Mind of Lies, Eyes of Truth
by MaiaNishikawa23
Summary: From an unknown village, living a lie might be hard, but it might help save the world. She finds love and romance with Kakashi, hides her secret friendship with Itachi and Kabuto (kabuto is funny), and with the help of Rin's soul inside her, finds the truth behind the evil man in her mind. What will happen when Kakashi learns his love hosts Rin's soul? KakaOC/ ItaOC. Lemons.
1. Intro and Overview

**Mind of Lies, Eyes of Truth Information (the story begins next chapter!)**

**Author's Note:** Having watched and loved Naruto over the last seven years, I found that my imagination created a girl and her story which seemed to perfectly align with whatever Masashi Kishimoto wrote. Whenever I made a scene in my mind, it worked well with the episodes he created in the next weeks after. I know it sounds far fetched, but from the first episodes of Itachi Uchiha's appearance I intuited the characters secret. That's when I thought it would be a good idea to write the story I had been making in my head down. I've had most of the storyline down for a while, and I started writing this fanfiction three years ago.

This fanfiction story spans from the beginning of the actual anime to the end, with gaps in between. In saying this, I've decided to break the character's story into two or three parts. This is the first part, where you meet every character, have a wonderful relationship with Kakashi, go on secret 'missions' to rendez vous with itachi and become friends with him, and maybe something more, while occasionally having uncharacteristic fun with the one and only kabster. This part of the story is for those who love Kakashi, like Itachi or have a fan crush on him, like sasuke, or want to just read about the rest of the characters having fun. Each chapter is about three pages so it's not too long.

The second section of the story will be more for the itachi/ sasuke rest of akatsuki fans because in that part itachi becomes much more than just a friend. In fact, he turns her whole life around. It would be good to read the entire thing though just so that the huge climax (I have the entire thing planned) will have even more of an impact. It's gonna be good. ^_^

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Getting to Know the Character!**

**Her Backstory:**

History of Ninja: Way far back in time, hundreds of years ago in the world of ninja, there was a man reffered to as the sage of six paths. He had two sons, one who formed the Senju clan, the other forming the Uchiha. The Senju was yang and believed love was necessary for peace. The Uchiha was yin and believed strength was necessary to achieve peace. The sage chose the loving as his successor, and two brothers broke off and had huge families that fought each other in a period of never ending war.

However, there was one man and woman from the two families who met and fell in love. They had a family in secret and started a clan of their own. This clan was like a unique mixture of the two sons. They had a unique kekkei genkai which dealt with light and sound which was passed down through the ages; Each family member would gravitate towards either the yin or yang half of a jutsu and learn to harness those traits in their techniques. Their power gradually decreased through the generations as they lost the teachings of their elders. However, they were still very indirectly related to the Sage, and therefore had a huge knack at learning jutsu.

For many generations, the family hid from the world working with their jutsu in secret, knowing that if they were discovered, the world would want to take their jutsu from them and the two clans would want to kill them for being half Uchiha and half Senju. Eventually, Hashirama Senju heard news of this hidden family, and having learnt of his families history, which was based on love for peace, he gave them his support. He hid the family from the village he had established. In his dying moments, he thought of his rival Madara, how he had desired his friendship, and with that he thought of the family who one day might help make peace between the two clans. He gave the family his blessing, and warned the uchiha that they would never kill a member of the mixed clan. This warning was known of by very few in the leaf village, it was passed down in whispers, referred to as Hashirama's Curse. Through the generations, Maia Nishikawa was born into this family, along with her non-ferternal twin brother, Kabuto Yakushi.

Though her body was on the weaker side, her ninjutsu and genjutsu were on the stronger side. When the girl was very young, only three, she was tested and classified to be 'light', and began to learn the yang half of the families' jutsu. Her studies had only just begun, but that was as far as she ever got.

One month, the family's existence was discovered. In a miniature war, the family was fought off- her parents and little brother were murdered. Maia was forced to flee with her cousin/brother Temujin (from the gelel movie!) and two other family members. Now a war orphan, the girl lived with him in a village inconspicuously while Kabuto had to live elsewhere. However, they were found out there too and the village was pillaged, leaving only Temujin as her known living family. The man who they both knew and survived showed them the stone of Gelel and with nowhere else to go, Maia left with Temujin to find a way to achieve world peace. They had seen so much fighting and war that she wanted to help the world. The two trained with the man for a majority of her teenage life.

Later, when she grew up, near the age of 20, Maia found out the true evil intentions of the man who had started the organization. He wanted to hurt the world to help the world. Not agreeing with him anymore and having a strong resolve to fight for her convictions, she fought her way out and escaped, having to leave Temujn behind. Her stone of Gelel was taken from her but traces of the chakra were left within her.

Wandering through the forest and hiding, living on her own for a week with no one to go to and no food to eat, she was discovered by none other than Obito Uchiha.

The man had gone mad from the loss of his love (Rin) by then, and when he found out that the girl had nowhere to go, he decided to use her for his experimental jutsu. He wanted in a last attempt to bring his loved one back. He took Maia with him against her will and locked her in his hideout.

The technique needed the human vessel to be weak in body and spirit so that Rin's soul could take over and change into her old self. Obito tortured Maia physically and mentally for a month to make that happen, even using a jutsu to connect their minds together. Her spirit had been very strong and she had put up a good fight, but in body she was still weak. However, she managed to trick him by pretending she was weaker than she was and escaped on the last day of the torture.

That's when my Prologue begins.

Obito caught up with her very quickly, when Maia had nearly reached the Leaf Village. He used the technique on her right then, trying to summon the 3 tailed beast for his 'eye of moon plan' and the girl with it, into her body. The jutsu was a work in progress however and it failed. The tailed beast separated itself from Rin's soul and flew off to where Kabuto, coincidentally, would find it later under orders. Rin's soul was inside the girl now and even changed her facial appearance but Maia had her own soul and body too, otherwise unchanged. The plan having failed, Maia used the chance to try to escape again. He grabbed her and told her he was taking her back. Threatening suicide, she made him let her go. He wouldn't risk losing her from a likely suicide, and it wasn't practical to keep her while the tailed beast was gone so he couldn't use it anyways. He knocked her unconscious and wiped her memory of everything that had happened in her life.

Now he had control of her mind, and would leave her to wander in the leaf village, then come back for her when the time was right to start the technique.

When the girl wakes up in the field with nothing, she stumbles upon none other than Kakashi Hatake, who for some reason she feels she has met before and is deeply linked with. The girl inside her and herself both instantly develop an infatuation with the man. That's when the entire story begins.

* * *

**General Info:**

**Personality:**  
Maia is an intelligent, kind, and compassionate girl, with a twist. Her mind occasionally is controlled by an unknown man who wants to hurt her everyone else in the leaf. The girl is interestingly imaginative, talking of her thoughts like "what if we all had tree branches that grew off our arms and legs, and we ate using the sunlight?" Because of her amnesia and the man in her mind, Maia often isolates herself, not wanting to hurt her friends. Her sense of self is lacking in the beginning too. Though many people isolate her and look down on her because she never truly has a place in the village, she is very loyal to the friends she does have and will get behind her friends when they need her and give her honest opinion when someone does something she thinks is mean or unfair. The girl is wise and kind and likes to help. She tends to toy evilly when in a match with a friend, even if she isn't a villain herself, just for fun. She has a wacky and dry sense of humor, and a love for things musical.

Positives: Selfless, kind, loving, motivated, intelligent, funny, nurturing, artistic, loyal, fun loving, harmonious  
Neutral: Stands with conviction, devoted, honest, outspoken, quirky, imaginative  
Negatives: Illusive, deceptive, teasing, indecisive, a little bipolar, sensitive, scatterbrained, and being controlled by an evil man

Her goal in life: To learn many jutsu and to know who she is, to find her place in the world.

**Appearance: **  
Weight: 113 lbs (I'm not converting to japanese weight!)  
Height 5 ft 4 in (or the metric system!)  
Hair: Long, straight, light blonde (like ino)  
Eyes: (blue green)  
Appearance _quirks:_ her eyes open up like mirrors to her soul, which makes some uneasy. Also she has tiny feet and hands and nose. In fact, for her age, she is quite little. She gets called teeny a lot by anko and small by kurenai and little lady by kisame.  
Family Members: Kabuto Yakushi (twin brother/cousin, we don't know yet)  
Later on Kakashi: Husband

* * *

**Databook Info**

These facts are written in the style of the Naruto Databooks:

Maia's name is an alternate spelling for Maya, which means 'illusion'. In some cultures it also means 'the first moment of enlightenment'.

Maia's hobbies are "anything creative" and learning new jutsu.

Maia's favorite foods are strawberries and cauliflower while her least favorite food is raw meat

Maia wishes to fight her evil 'twin' kabuto, but never to kill him (First and Second Databook) Maia wishes to find and fight the man who is the voice inside her head. (Third Databook)

Maia has completed 34 official missions that she can remember overall by the end of the story. 3 D rank, 10 C rank, 17 B rank, 4 A rank, and 0 S rank.

Maia's favorite word is 'ai' meaning love, and 'kioku' meaning memory

* * *

**List of Maia's Jutsu She Learns:**

Maia is a sensory type ninja. The girl has a talent for learning many ninjutsu and genjutsu, unfortunately, physically she is very frail, even to the point of being a weakness to her team. Her weakness in taijutsu is eventually classified as a minor disability. Many of her ninjutsu and genjutsu have to do with first sensing her opponents life force and other aspects of their energy, not just chakra. This helps her sense the mental states of the opponent as well. In her jutsu, or when getting to know people, she often lifts her hand and twittles her fingers to get a sense of them as a person. In turn, she is easily influenced by the energy of others. Often, others think first that she is waving,when she lifts her hand to sense them, which makes her laugh.

**-List of Every Ninjutsu and Genjutsu Technique She Learns**

Her most common technique is a vocal genjutsu where she concentrates her chakra to her voice. Through using her hand and fingers to sense the different aspects of the person, she reads the energies of the opponent. Then through concentrating her chakra to her voice, she either weaves a strange melody that puts them in a genjutsu where they are made peaceful or indifferent, then takes care of them, or uses her voice to create an illusion to hide herself, where she then can attack offensively.

The other one of maia's main jutsu is working with color of light. Her voice in a ninjutsu manipulates the individual chakras of theirs, warping them to her will. This jutsu can either heal greatly or create significant harm.

She uses a water wave infused with her chakra that can have crippling damage to her opponent.

She learns to make a jellyfish like chakra ball that when activated branches off into many rope like things that wrap around multiple enemies, incapacitating them and manipulating their chakra in turn. It was later adjusted to be used to make the victim feel more peaceful and not hurt Maia or team members

Later when she learns earth style, she has a few earth jutsu.

She can make a protective earth wall to deflect attacks

After learning under her for a while, she can do some of Kurenai's earth jutsu like restraining people with vines

She learned to make flowers grow infused with her chakra that emit a perfume that put them in a genjutsu.

She can do a combination jutsu only with kabuto, their first invention together, because they have almost identical chakra. They link arms back to back and combine their chakra into each other, then both do the same series of hand signs to create a huge water and earth jutsu. It basically fires off a lot of earth and water attacks simultaneously. This jutsu is later improvised to include their ying and yang energy which when separated creates large blasts (yang) and illusions (yin) and when merged makes them merge into one mind for a while. They call it Heaven and Earth Jutsu.

She knows the medical, mystic palm technique, to heal minor wounds. In later chapters, she learns to use her chakra crystal to heal too.

Bubble jutsu- little jutsu that makes bubbles when bathing in rivers, streams, hot springs, or tubs

**-Taijutsu-**

She will learn a unique style of taijutsu that Itachi finds in a scroll called Shuuri Uren. It's good for her because she's weak, and much like the gentle fist, this one targets several energy points, not hurting her frail arms or legs as much. This style involves graceful spinning motions with her arms and legs, light flowing out of her hands and feet making a force field around her or wherever she directs it. Through these motions she can either use hand to hand combat or throw senbon, shurriken, or kunai at the enemy. Later on in the story she improves this technique so that her unique chakra flows out of her hands. This chakra is light sea foam green/ sky blue in color. The chakra flows out of her hands and can either heal, hurt or blind the opponent. Essentially, she is fighting with pure, watery, etheric chakra.

**Summonings (Via Scrolls)!**

A large dove that will transport her to a fight if she needs to move fast, or in order to escape

Little telepathic butterflies

A bunny for fun's sake

The scroll technique that Kabuto uses in the anime to write messages to someone else who has the same type of scroll. The two communicate this way.

**Weapons**

Throwing needles, kunai, shurriken, a katana, wire and explosive tags, water in a pouch she carries by her side

**Other Stats**

Height: 5ft 4in, Weight 103 lbs, blood type AB, Level in the beginning is genin, later progresses to chuunin and at the end is a jounin.

**That's all her jutsu so far until the very end. She can learn jutsu incredibly fast which is why after only a little bit of time, she was able to learn so many.**

That's it for now. Many of the chapters will be added soon.


	2. Prologue- Maia's First Memory

***Note to readers, a metatron cube is an elaborate shape that can be looked up, not a weird robotic word.**

**Prologue:**

The man gently placed the girl inside the metatron's cube, an insignia imprinted into the ground.

"Hold still. If you move I'll restrain you." The girl looked into the man's face, her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. He had hauled her this entire way in spite of her protests, easily stronger than any man she had ever fought. There was no way she was could escape.

"What do you want from me?" the girl asked, eliciting a cruel chuckle from the black cloaked figure.

"Let me try a little experiment." He made certain no chakra signature was nearby besides his and the girl's. This plan was not to be spoiled by wandering ninja.

He took out a large scroll and placed it on the ground in front of them. Using a kunai to take a small drop of blood from his own thumb, and then a less than small gash on her left leg, the man put a sample of both of their life forces onto the parchment. The paper filled with ornate glyphs and symbols while the metatron's cube illuminated electric green. The girl looked from side to side frantically. Her entire body was tingling.

"I summon... the three tailed beast's jinjuriki, and with it, the beast Sanbi himself!" With that, vivid electric colors swirled through the air around the forest. The middle section of metatron's glyph illuminated in a pillar of light, reaching up into the air, through the girl's very form. She screamed, though the light did not hurt her. The man in the cloak looked up at the end of the light pillar watching for any warning signs. Then finally, he saw it. The spirit of the three tails had been unleashed from where it came. With it, the soul of whom he sought.

However, fate was not with him this night, for the soul of the tailed beast disconnected himself from the girl before he could be seized. He sped off through the sky towards unknown territory to hide himself. Meanwhile, the white light imploded on itself, ending the forbidden jutsu in a flash though the girls body. Having failed, they were left in the torchlight. The man looked to the girl with such hatred, however this hatred was halted in his tracks with a gasp. Her facial features had changed to the girl he had wanted. The girl got up, and scowled at him. This was her chance to get away.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," the man warned.

"Hikari-kabe-no-jutsu!" Her hands raised towards the man, letting out a jet of energy towards him. He countered immediately, and snuck up behind her in a flash, hitting her. They fought for a moment but the girl knew he was too strong to last. He overpowered her a minute later with a kunai to her neck.

"How dare you try and disobey me?"

"I won't be hurt by you anymore! I've had enough!" His hand squeezed her wrist.

"It's not like you have a choice. You will return with me where we will extract the girl from you. Is that understood?" A tear escaped her eye.

"No I won't. If you take me with you, I will end my own life before morning." He scowled. The likeliness of that happening was high, and there was no use in taking the risk.

"Then in that case you are of no further use to me for the moment." He hit her over the head hard; the girl collapsed into the grass. With a few hand signs, the man bent over and placed a palm on her forehead.

"Memory wipe." Now that he had her under his control, it made no difference where the girl was. He would leave her to find her way in the Leaf Village. When the time was right and his plans were set, he would come looking for her. He looked into her unconscious face.

Rin...

It had to be her. This girls soul was unharmed but now her body had a new guest, there was no other reason why her facial features would have girl's mind and his were now linked. There was nowhere she could hide. Now it was time to travel far away. He took off into the forest, leaving her in the field.

* * *

**First Memory**

So calm. So pure. Feeling the grass all around me I open my eyes to the heavens; billions of stars spread across the night sky. I feel for my arms and legs stretched out in a snow angel. Where am I? I sit up and wince, my arms and legs are covered with dirt and gashes. I find I'm in the center of a grassy clearing in the forest- all alone. What happened? I can't remember. A head protector to my left. It is light purple with a diamond- star engraved in the metal. On the back it reads 'Maia Nishikawa Feb 29'. That's my name isn't it? I try to stand up but at once I hear a snap and the blood rushes to my head. I'm very hurt.

I struggle across the field barely noticing the big dirt trenches far behind me until I get to the trees where I rest to breathe. All alone in the cold dark forest I wander aimlessly amongst the trees for hours. My body is sore but I though it out knowing that I need to get to civilization.

After a while I come to a dirt road where a flashlight blinds my eyes. Out of the light I can barely distinguish the tall, shaggy silver hair of a man in a mask.

"Hm? Who's there?" the man's voice is calm.

"My name is...Maia. I'm lost."

" I guess we'd better get you to where you belong. Let me escort you into town." I let him support me but a zing of pain shoots through my spine and I grimace. "Looks like you're hurt. Here, l'll take you to the hospital." He took me in his arms.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"I thought that since it seems like you can't walk, it would be easier for me to carry you." I might have flushed. He held me in his arms bridal style humming to himself, walking through the forest a ways until we approach buildings and houses- civilization. "This is it. Welcome to Konoha." I sigh in relief; the hospital building is only a short ways away.

...

"Good girl. You're exactly where I want you." I gasped. Who was that? I look from side to side, head fuzzy, when I realize the reason why it was fuzzy was because the voice was coming from inside my own mind! The voice was dark and deep, unmistakably masculine.

"Who are you?" I ask nervously. He chuckled evilly.

"I'm the one who will hurt you. I'm everything to you. I'm the reason you're here." A shiver ran down my spine. Whoever this was in my head, I wanted him out.

"Why then am I here? What do you want from me?"

"It's none of your concern now." Then to my horror I felt the touch of an invisible hand on my wrist. It squeezed me.

"Get out of my mind!" I yelled inside my head. The voice chuckled once more. I could feel it pulling out of me.

"I'm watching you..." It said, then I was back to normal. Confused, I continued in the direction Iruka led me. I thought it would be wise to not tell him now, not if he would think I'm crazy and leave me out here. I needed to get to the hospital. I hurt all over.  
_

He carried me inside and into the immaculately clean white hospital building. In a matter of minutes he was sent away and I found myself in bed at the mercy of three nurses. I watched with interest as the women mended up my aching gashes and bruises. They mumbled to themselves of what had happened.

"What a horrible fight."  
"We're not allowed to tell her about this! Is Hatake gone?"  
"Yes, I had him leave."  
"Was she the only survivor?"  
"Shhh!"  
"I know those eyes. The girl has Rin's soul!"  
"We'll tell no one, understand? It's best not to tell Kakashi for now. Even the girl cannot know."

I gazed at the blurry images of the women zoning in and out of consciousness, unaware of what they were saying. What tomorrow would hold for me I had no idea of but the only thing I could bring myself to worry about at that moment were the nurses that hovered over me. Gradually I felt my limbs begin to hurt a little less and fill with comfortable warmth. Exhausted, I gave myself over to sleep.


	3. Interrogation, Registration

Maia woke up to a sunny Konoha morning having forgotten the conversation that took place over her last night. After she sat up in bed for a while a couple of doctors walk by my part opened door. Then one of them turned to look in and saw her.

"That girl is awake."

"Go get them." A minute later the man who had led her into town came in.

"Well howdy doo." He lifted his hand in a wave and came to sit on a stool at the end of her hospital bed. "My name is Kakashi Hatake." Now visible in morning light, Maia noticed the man indeed had very tall, jagged silver hair that went up at a slight angle, making him look windblown. His face and eye were completely obscured by a mask. He gave a kind smile, eyes going into upside down U's. Maia blushed. He was nice, and for the first time, she felt as if she had known him in a time or place beforehand.

"It's nice to meet you, thank you for saving me in the forest. It was very kind of you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there with your flashlight."

"Just doing my job as a ninja. I couldn't let you go walking around hurt like that. I'm glad to see you're well." He walked over near the window and picked up what looked to be her purple headband. "I take it you're a ninja; but the inscription on this head plate isn't one of the five hidden villages. Oddly enough, it's not one I've ever seen. Where do you come from?" He showed her the metal plate, which had a strange diamond on it. No memories came up.

"Hhh- I don't remember... I woke up in the forest last night in the middle of a field and I can't remember anything. I didn't even remember my own name, but I guess its on there next to my birthday."

"Maia Nishikawa... And February 29th. That's a leap day." She shrugged lazily.

"Is it? I forgot."

"The nurses told me you had a case of amnesia. Then you say you don't remember anything?"

"No, nothing. Well... maybe... have I met you before?" It felt foolish to ask him this, but the feeling was undeniable. It was strong. The man lifted his hand to his chin, looking up in thought.

"Hmm.. let me think. I haven't met many new people recently, but I think I would remember if I had. Nope, nothing comes to mind. I think this is our first time." The girl made a face to the idea that this was the first they met. It just seemed wrong. He got up from his chair.

"Well then in that case I'll be waiting outside to give you privacy. When you get dressed we need to take you into ANBU. Then we can take you to see Lord Hokage, he'll tell us what to do. Come out when you've finished getting ready."

* * *

When the Copy Ninja left the room, a nurse had been waiting outside. The woman had been interested in the new guest.

"Well? How was she? I heard she was found in the forest last night. Is she a threat?" He shrugged and sighed.

"No. From first impressions, it looks like she's nice and gentle. She would never hurt a fly." This reassured the woman.

"Hm, well I guess we'll have to see. If she's hiding anything, Ibiki will find it."

* * *

When she left the room she found him outside with two other ninja. They grinned slyly when they saw her. It made her uneasy.

"Maia. This is Izumo Kamizuki and his partner Kotetsu Hagane. They will be leading you to the ANBU blackops interrogation center." Kakashi introduced the two with a gentle smile, though the idea made her even more uneasy. He departed with a wave. She was to be interrogated? It would be clearly evident that she knew nothing. He left her with the two men.

"Hey there, it looks like we've got a little cutie on our hands," the guy named Kotetsu flirted. Maia's gut churned. This was not going as she expected. It hadn't even been a day and already there was a guy flirting. However, she smiled politely, not wanting to make conflict in the precarious situation she was in.

"I think we'd better not call her that until we get her through the interrogation, that is if she even makes it out. We might have a criminal in our hands for all we know." Criminal? There was no way. She didn't feel like a villain and there was no reason for her to be… was there? The guy named Izumo greeted her nicely enough however.

"This way." Maia felt Kotetsu lightly touch the tips of her hair, though she dared not look his way in fear of provoking him. They led her through the hospital into the lower floors of the Hokage's House.

"I sure hope they find you innocent of anything, I wouldn't want for someone looking like you to be tortured or put in prison. Then we would never be able to get to know each other. " The flirt's friend countered, pointing out her nose was too small and she looked tiny compared to them. That had been enough. Offended, she countered.

"If you two are partners, then I don't understand why you're friend is hitting on me! I'm a girl. If you're gay, why would you care how small I am?" The two ninja jolted and looked at each other, then bursting into laughter.

"We're not gay, ninja are broken off into teams! Wow, you must have been hit hard in the head if you didn't know that." Izumo teased. Maia flushed embarrassed, but chuckled with them at her mistake.

"Oh... Forgive me, I had no idea." The mirth of the misunderstanding dyed down, leaving them in nervous silence as they walked to the interrogation. The only thing that could be heard was their footsteps on the immaculately clean, cold tile floor. They came to a dimly lit hallway with several closed doors and a large window into a room. Outside it, a tall and broad shouldered man with a scar on his face greeted them. His face was not in the least bit friendly.

"This is the girl Kakashi found in the forest last night."

"Bring her here." He held out a long muscular arm, gesturing for her to go into the room. This was bad, she felt it. Her gut clenched hard, and she gulped. She felt like she was going to throw up from nerves. What if he interrogated her and found something out? What if she was really a horrible criminal? There was nothing she could pull out of her head to give her any idea who she was. What if he hurt her? This could be the end of a very short beginning. He let her enter first, and followed her into the little room. The two others left. Now she had only one task, to prove herself innocent.

**INTERROGATION:**

Ibiki Morino was not the type of man to yell at first, she intuited. He looked harsh, with his large shoulders squared off evenly facing her. The scars on his stern face made her wonder what he had gotten into in the past. He certainly looked threatening. He placed his hands firmly on the table in front of her and gazed at her for a long while. Uneasy, she looked away. Her heart thumped in her chest.

Why did this have to be hard? Now the only thing she wanted was to make herself at home in the village, and find out what happened last night.

"Maia Nishikawa is it? You say you were found in the clearing just west of here? Kakashi found you."

"Yes."

"Yet you have no memory whatsoever."

"That's correct."

"How do you expect me to believe that?" Would she ever be given a chance?

"Because I have no idea who I am. Please, I promise, I'm not a criminal."

"There are places for those who lie in this village. They're never friendly." Maia's heart was racing fast. She imagined him taking her into a room where she would be tortured for information like Kotetsu had said. It would hurt terribly and she wouldn't be strong enough to live through it. Holding back tears, she tried to look unfazed at his threatening words. However, the girl found out quickly that Ibiki was not her only pressing issue. In an instant, her mind went blank. Ibiki noticed her eyes go wide, her mouth hung open.

There was the voice of a man inside her mind.

*"Now look what you've done, Maia Nishikawa. Gone and got yourself caught into this mess. This imbecile Ibiki Morino might kill you if he wanted. He has no idea that you're mine."* The voice was dark and masculine, unmistakably evil.

"Who are you?" She thought. What in the world? The man chuckled.

*I'm the mastermind behind your very life. I'm nobody. No one you need to concern yourself with.*

"Then why are you in my head?! How are you in my head? What do you want with me?" The harsh eyes of Ibiki combined with the voice inside her head was too overwhelming. How had she gotten herself into this life? Feeling lost, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

*I don't want you, idiot girl, I want what's inside of you. I have to end your life to get that. I'm linked with your life force. I'm with you no matter where you try to hide.* This was insanity now, Maia thought. Everything she had once known had been taken away from her and she needed answers. What was inside of her? Now he was making her arms tingle unpleasantly. Was he behind her, invisible? The man seemed to know her thoughts.

*I'm far away now, but I won't be forever. I have the answers you're looking for. Now you need to get yourself out of this mess. He's not allowed to kill you. I have the information you want but maybe consider what price you're willing to pay for it. One day I will tell you but know this: when I do, I will hurt you.*

"I'd prefer to figure it out on my own then." With that the voice left her head. Her face turned back to normal. The burly man had been watching her suspiciously, wondering why her expression had changed. If Ibiki suspected dishonesty, so be it. Now it was Maia's time to come up with her first lie.

"I was trying to look back to what happened. I have no idea. I truly don't." He looked unconvinced.

"I can't let you go until I'm certain there is no harm that will come to the village."

"How could I possibly be a threat? I assure you I'm harmless. I'm unarmed and I have no memory of my life or jutsu. I'm telling the truth." He held his hands in front of him and let his large chest puff in and out in a harsh sigh.

"Let me take a look at your headband one more time." He pulled it out of his pocket. The two guys must have gotten it from Kakashi. Maia wished he was with her now, at least he had been nice to her. He would tell this man that there was no reason for mistrust.

"I've never seen this symbol in my entire life, I'm sure of it, yet it's well made. It can't be a fake. It even tells your date of birth. February 29th? It doesn't ring any bells?"

"No… I promise." He sighed.

"Well then we have no other choice but to take you into a special kind of interrogation. Let me make sure we have our equipment ready. Follow me." Maia's heart lurched in her chest. Could this day get any worse? Her imagination ran wild at the images of maces and whips and weapons they would use to hurt her. It wasn't fair. Instead of having a nice life in the village she had hoped might be her home, in a village where the people were friendly, this village might have led her to her last hour to live. Tears came over her finally.

"No please! I have no idea what's going on, I'm telling the truth! Please trust me, I'm not a threat!" He watched her weep in shock.

"What? I'm not going to torture you! I'm just having them hook wires up to your head! It won't hurt a bit! Hey and you were born near the same time as me!" Maia looked up like the angels had just spared her life. Maybe they had. He was grinning from ear to ear. Marveling at her luck, the girl considered that this village might be what she had been hoping for. Maybe he would help her to find the answers she needed.

In the next room, Ibiki had her sit on a leather cushioned seat while he taped mental probes to her head. They talked casually of his day so far as if nothing had just happened in the room before. She inwardly laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. _This is fun in a silly way. _He was gentle now, explaining that through the interrogation she had shown no visible signs of lying. He could tell she was truthful.

"I'm going to ask you this list of questions. It will make the computer monitor change. That way I might be able to see into your mind. Here's the first one. I need you to picture the clearing where Iruka found you wandering." Maia thought of this, it had been dark and there were many trees. The image of a wide field popped up on the computer screen and Ibiki took notes. _This is the coolest thing ever!_ _He can look into my own mind!_ _I want to work with these one day._ The man noticed her innocently smiling. "Now picture your family."

They watched together as the image changed into a hazy chaotic mess on the monitor. Then the image of three people flashed across the screen. The two parents had had on white clothes and there had been two children two. Half of them had blonde hair and half of them grey. It lasted for three seconds and then faded into a hazy mess.

Her heart fluttered in excitement. Had that been them? Her family had looked lovely. Ibiki scowled, explaining that either that could have been them or it could have been her imagination for a moment. There was no way to tell. Her heart sank in longing to look up to the faces once more. Her home had been taken from her, and now the only thing she had was the memory of those four faces. Were they missing her? No matter what, she promised herself she would never forget them. He continued asking her a series of questions which she answered truthfully, every one resulting in black and white static from the machiene. In the end, Ibiki sighed.

"Well then, it looks to me that what you say is true. You have complete memory loss. In cases like this, by law you are welcomed to our village, with full citizenship. However, we will be keeping a close eye on you from now on until the end of the month."

Maia nodded her head, thankful that Ibiki had been so kind with her when it could have been much worse. It hadn't helped much but now she had a memory of her maybe family. He was a good man after all and perhaps this village was a good place to call home too for now. Waving to the corder of the room, he invited the two chuunin from before back in again. Both of them greeted her with smiles now, waving her over, leading her up to the leader of the village.

"Hey I'm glad he didn't hurt you, now we can find out where you're to live in the village. Then I can come visit-" Izumo hit Kotetsu over the head hard.

"Gosh, stupid! No more joking around the lady!"

Izumo looked at her with comforting eyes. "Forgive him, he tends to tell us everything that happens in his head. We're nice, I promise." For the first time that day, the girl truly smiled wide. Their childish joking helped her to feel happy, safe and even comfortable in her new environment. Maia liked Izumo more than his partner. He was nice indeed. When they arrived at the Hokage's Office, Ibiki had the two other men stay with her while he talked with the Hokage.

"How was the girl? No threats whatsoever in her mind?"

"None whatsoever. The girl is sweet and friendly; she even made me laugh. It was strange, I mean, after feeling life threatened, she asked me how my day had been going. I told her how she looked like my niece." The old man laughed.

"Well then I guess the next step is to figure out how we can help her!"

**HOKAGE'S OFFICE:**

The hokage was a gentle and kind man. He walked around the room holding a pipe between his lips. Maia thought immediately that he would be the kind of man who would easily give their life for the village, or any person no matter how small.

"Maia Nishikawa. You're blood test results read AB. I searched for anyone named Nishikawa in the village- do any of these faces look familiar to you?"

She looked at the faces. None of them even resembled her. "No sir, I'm sorry, I don't know any of them."

"You don't have to call me sir, Maia. You can just call me lord Hokage." He smiled. You thought he seemed like a nice guy too, even if he had a grouchy voice. "Nope... Nope... Nope... none of them even have the same blood type. Darned AB's, they're hard to pinpoint. Do you have any idea where you may have come from?"

"Well I woke up last night in a field and... I can't remember past that. Maybe if you took me in an air shuttle I could find it..."

"Hahahah!" he laughed, his eyes squinting. "We don't really have the resources to get you in an air shuttle, sorry to say. It'd be nice if we could even get me in one! How about I show you a map and you can see if you recognize any of the clearings."

After a while a man named Iruka came in to help the two of them. He was nice and Maia wondered if the mark on his nose was earned in battle as a testament to his name or if he had been born with it. She was having a hard time finding anything. But even when he thought of the path he had been walking down, she couldn't find it because she had been walking before that. So in the end it was hopeless.

"I'm sorry Maia, we'll keep on the lookout just in case some people come looking for you. Until then, it seems you're just going to have to live here alone. We'll set up an apartment for you to live in the complex meant for minors without parents and orphaned children. We'll sign you up at the ninja academy. How does that sound?" Her heart sank. Her entire life had been taken away, and she had no idea how it had happened. Her family could have been looking for her, or perhaps they were the ones who had left her in the forest to begin with. Maybe now she was an orphan. There was nowhere she could go now but here, no one she could go to. The hokage saw she looked melancholy.

"Yeah I guess that's okay. I just wish I could find my family... I wonder if they're looking for me..." He went to enroll you but when he looked though several files he paused in confusion.

"Iruka, come look at this." he did.

"What in the- a girl named Maia Nishikawa is already enrolled in our program! She was going to start this year! She looks an awful lot like you! Well, maybe I had enrolled her without realizing it." How could she have been enrolled if she hadn't been in the village for more than a day? There was no way. It was a relief though to think she knew what she was supposed to do. They walked out of the Hokage's house when the voice entered her mind once more.

*"It went well, I take it. Very good. I'm glad they never found out I enrolled you but how could they? Now get yourself into the Leaf Village Academy. Never forget, I will be the one who will hurt you."* Then he had enrolled her, yet hadn't he told her he was far away? Maia guessed he had left the village after he registered her. Maybe he was from here too?

"Get out of my head," Maia told the voice in fear and annoyance, but just as easily it entered her thoughts it had already left. The four looked over and noticed her troubled expression. The hokage set his hand on her shoulder.

"So I guess you might be from the Land of Fire after all. Hmm... well we'll get down to the bottom of this I'm sure, but for now why don't we get you settled in to a new house?"

The girl's heart lifted. Everything would be okay. Eventually they would figure out what had happened with her in the forest. Now she would have time to grow as a ninja and learn new jutsu to defend her new village. The hokage, Iruka, Izumo and Kotetsu were all smiling at her. Even Kakashi had rejoined them, reading an orange book, when she had been talking with the man in her mind. It looked wonderful to have them all here.

"Welcome home," they all said simultaneously, making her grin once again. It would be wonderful here. The leaf village might or might not be where she was from, but the ninja she had already met were nice. Now that she lived here she would work to make it her home. Certainly she would meet many more ninja soon.

*Hope you liked the second chapter! I've rewritten it a lot. There will be more Kakashi soon!*


	4. Meet Squad 7 and the Hot Copy Ninja

-Since becoming a citizen in the leaf village, the elders and the Hokage decided that even if she wasn't the same age as the rest of them, and was most likely not a genin, she would simply have to take the genin exams all over again, newly entered into their system. Over the next few months, the girl learned to except that she had no family that would be coming to look for her. She was an orphan. Maia took her classes at the ninja academy, isolated from the students due to her much older age, and the easiness of the lessons. It seemed she had been a kunoichi before as all she had to do was remember the techniques she had learnt. Life was hard in this way, though she tried to cheer herself up with her eagerness to learn new jutsu and improve herself. After three well made clones, the girl graduated with high marks.

MAIA POV: I look at the scene in front of me wondering how I got myself into this mess. Is this my temporary team? The little boy with the spikey blonde hair is shoving a chalk filled eraser between the hinges of the door while the girl with pink hair screams telling him how stupid he looks. The boy in the blue shirt seems fine enough though, he sits there calmly and doesn't speak. I'm sure they'll be nice enough and that they mean no harm but... it wouldn't hurt to put me with older genin. I go over and look out the window at a group of older ninja, reassuring myself that once I made friends with these three I would have a chance to learn more with others.

The door opens up. Naruto's eraser falls on the man who walked in- and to my excitement it was the same grey spikey haired man who had found me in the beginning.

"He fell for it!" Says the blond boy. After a minute of berating from Pinky, the man tells them they have made a very bad first impression.

Then he notices me.

"Oh, and look at here; we have a temporary fourth!" He claims in a higher warmer voice. "It's been a long time, Maia." It had been a while since we talked, and I still felt a sense of familiarity with him.. and something more. I may or may not have blushed.

-  
The hot silver haired teacher sat across from the four genin on a balcony outside.

"Alright, let's introduce ourselves."

"...What do we say?" said the blond one.

"How about things you like, things you hate, hobbies, dreams for the future."

"Uh..."

"Alright I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't really feel like telling you that... Dreams for the future... never really thought about that... and hobbies... I have lots of hobbies. " Maia gave a small smile, heart fluttering. She liked this guy; the fact he told them nothing made him interesting. "Now how about you?" he said to the blond boy.

"BELIEVE IT! I'm Naruto Uzamaki. My hobby is eating ramen at Ichiraku Noodle Shop. Things I like ehhhh..." he looked to the pink girl. "Things I hate is ughh..." He looks to the blue boy."

"And... dreams for the future?"

"To be the 5th Hokage! BELIEVE IT! Then people will have to treat me like I'm somebody; somebody important!"

"Alright... and how about you?"

Sakura turned out to be a fangirl of the one in the blue, who didn't seem to care for anything or anyone. His dream is to become an avenger saying he will 'restore his clan... and destroy a certain someone..." the three were cute, but it would take a little effort for her to connect. Hopefully in the time she had with them they would all get to know each other more. The things the boy in the blue said left her troubled. What had happened to his clan? No one had told her anything. Whatever transpired had left him in the dark.

Then finally Kakashi looked to Maia who had been acting shy and twirling her hair nervously. "And finally you, Maia."

"I really don't know what to say about any of this. I was found in the forest and they registered me into the academy." The three Genin looked at her with fascinated yet intimidated expressions. It made her feel isolated and the fact that she was most likely closer in age to Kakashi didn't help. She continued. "I love music and writing. I haven't gotten to dreams yet but I want to learn jutsu and I want to remember who I am. But I love this village and I'm very loyal to it."

Maia looked at the puzzled faces of all three Genin and flushed. The look everyone had been giving her over the last half a year had worn her down. Everywhere she went it felt as if she was being followed by curious eyes.

"That's very good." Kakashi mumbled. She wondered what the mysterious jounin thought of her...

"Alright. We'll meet here tomorrow morning at sunrise. Oh and don't eat breakfast... you'll puke." The three genin looked at him in utter horror.  
Everyone headed for home, excited that tomorrow they were to get their first mission. As Maia followed the three genin home, Kakashi stopped her from behind. What could it be?

"Maia. From what you said back there I have no doubt you had an interesting experience at the academy. Since ninja squads are normally squads of three, I have a different mission for you. Can you come at the same time as the other genin do?" She flushed at nodded her head.

"It was weird, but I made the most of it. I will come, thank you very much for teaching me, sensei. I'll see you there." He nodded back. The girl's voice had been gentle and kind through her talk with the genin. She had a light demeanor, yet there was a slight etherealness to her. He couldn't help but notice her eyes looked like they were hiding something.

"Great. Dismissed." With that the grey haired jounin disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

* * *

The next day, Maia woke up to meet the three genin in the training field. When their teacher had told them the task was to take the bells, Naruto had had a fit. However, when they decided to split, she mumble to each of them that perhaps it was wise if they tried taking them as a team. Kakashi had heard and mumbled to himself how easily she had passed. Unsurprising though, for she had amnesia, not inexperience. While the three genin were figuring out how to feed Naruto who had been tied to a log, Kakashi took her to walk with him.

"The task was basic that I was trying to teach them. Teamwork. Ninja must understand how to effectively work as a unit. I'm glad you understood that from the very beginning." He smiled at her nicely, his eyes going into upside down U's. It was the cutest face she had seen on a man. She tried not to give that away.

"It was nothing… and I guess everything too." That made him laugh a little. He thought to himself how her smiled looked... familiar? Yet he knew that the first time they had met was merely a year ago. There had been nothing before, so it must have been his mind. He mentally chided himself for letting his mind fool him.

"The three of them have more growing to do. I think I'm going to fail them. I've never passed a genin but you but because of your experience I think you're an exception."

"It's true they have more growing to do, but I have a feeling they have lots of potential to grow fast. They're each very willing to learn. Will you give them one more chance?" He thought and sighed.

"I guess I might try."

And they showed him they were worth it and that was how the four students became Genin.

* * *

-A week later-

Maia woke up with a start- a bird had flown by her window- she looked out at the bluish purple dawn sky. Yawning, she glanced at her clock to find it was 8:00 am and she was late to meet with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura! Shoot. Hurrying out of bed to get dressed, she sprinted out the door.  
Maia met the gang of ninja by the river to find Kakashi wasn't there. Naruto noticed her and pointed accusingly.

"There you are, you little- you're late, Maia-chan!" He grinned his evil little boyish grin.

"A little boy calling me little?" She smirked in a mock- authoritative voice and went to stand by the three kids.

"Alright, so where were you then?" Sakura asked.

"I woke up late, sorry I don't have an alarm yet." They looked at her like she was some kind of alien who had no idea how to get back home. It made her feel isolated once more.

"Well I guess its okay seeing Kakashi isn't here too. He always is late!" Maia smiled and the four of you stood silently waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Finally he did. Her heart kind of leaped though she tried to hide it.

"Sorry I'm late, A black cat got in my way and I had to"

"Aww, we've heard it already! Save it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Let's get moving." Sasuke was headed to the far end of the field.

"Today we are going to be battling each other. I have to observe you to get a better idea of where your skills and strengths and weaknesses lie. Sasuke, you'll battle Sakura and Maia will battle Naruto."

"WHAATT?!" The aghast Sakura exclaimed. "I have to battle Sasuke?!" The blue shirt boy smirked.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." The dark haired uchiha smirked. Naruto was equally displeased.

"Aww man, I don't see why I have to be the one to fight with Maia, I want to battle Sasuke!"

"That's just the way it goes." Kakashi shrugged, face now buried in his novel. "The winners will fight it off at the end. Ready? Go!"

Sasuke and Sakura started of their fight standing on the field across from each other. Sakura freaked out about how she wouldn't harm a hair on his head no matter what while Sasuke told Kakashi with his arms crossed that he wouldn't attack a girl unless she was strong enough to defend herself in battle. Maia inwardly laughed while Kakashi sighed. These kids needed time for growing up.

"Alright, I hereby declare Sasuke the winner of this battle. Sakura you really need to get over crush on Sasuke and get some backbone. Next, Naruto and Maia will fight. This idea pleased Naruto.

"Oh boy! You just watch it Maia, I'm going to knock the face off your face!"

Maia smiled and shook her head, taking her place opposite him in the field. Kakashi gave them the ready, go. Naruto started straight off by running up to her with three shadow clones. She lifted her kunai to the ready. Then, for no reason at all other than it would be fun, the girl put on an evil sly grin to him. Maybe it would help for intimidation, something she had always lacked. It was fun to be elusive and he would never know until the end. With that idea in mind, she sniggered.

"Time to pop the airheads." Then she went about poking them until they disappeared in a puff of smoke but then Naruto had a last clone sneak up from behind her.

"Gotcha." Without hesitation, she blankly popped the clone not even turning around to look.

"Ha."

Sakura was wide eyed with surprise while Sasuke smirked and gave a 'hmph' of approval.

Kakashi POV: She didn't even hesitate or flinch. This is an extremely intelligent young lady!

"Naruto, I mean wasn't that a little predictable? Even before I started fighting you I figured you'd make that move. Maybe it's time to think of something new." He grunted madly at her figuring him out. She had heard the recounted tale of his saving Kakashi's butt in the land hidden in the waves. Though his spontaneous planning was impressive, he always did the same thing. Now it was her turn to make her move on him now. She concentrated her chakra into her right hand to pierce him. He was propelled to the ground and skidded in the dirt but came back at her without a pause with a kunai in his hand. She dodged his attack.

Naruto POV: She's fast on her feet!

Maia grabbed the back of his shirt and pinned him to the ground. She put a kunai to his neck and looked up at Kakashi.  
"Can I go now, sensei?" He looked up from his book. She smiled inside at his apparent aloofness.

"He's not done yet. Why don't we start over? I want to see more from the two of you." She let him up and this time he looked at her with a really determined face.

"Aghhhhh! I'm not done yet, I still have a lot up my sleeve! That kick you gave me earlier was really weak, I'll just have to fight you fist in fist!" Maia didn't like the sound of that. It was true. She was a wimp when it came to physical strength. That was her weak point, and it really got in the way. She blocked his attacks for a while but soon the little orange boy was getting to her muscles and nerves. He hit her from behind. Everybody watched and gasped as the kunai pierced her skin and... she turned into a puddle of water.

"A WATER CLONE?!" Everyone exclaimed. The sneaky kunoichi came out from behind a tree- the real her, with a mock evil smirk.

Kakashi POV: Maybe she's originally from the water village?

"Thank you Naruto. I almost got a full five minutes of sleep over there."

"What?! You were even quicker than me!" He raised his arms in exhasperation. 'Not exactly…' she thought to herself as she softly padded the kunai wound on her back just below her neck. Medical ninjutsu would help it heal fast. How it happened would be her secret.

"Alright, I think we've had enough of this battle."  
Kakashi sighed. "Maia is clearly the winner. Maia will battle Sasuke." Sasuke and her looked at each other, him nodding in approval of the rivalry and Maia just tried to look as cool as possible. Even if she never wanted to compete, she knew the mini showdown would be imminent. "But first," said Kakashi, "Lunch!"


	5. Fighting the Uchiha, Sakura Swears

After lunch the five of them return to the training area

"Alright you two, show me what you can do." Kakashi looked first to Sasuke, scrutinizing him. Then Maia noticed his eyes brush over her for a few seconds. Was he looking at her hair or her waist? Then again, she told herself, it could have been only her imagination. Her hand went to the holster at her side and his eyes snapped back into his novel.

They both walked to the center to face each other. Maia admitted she was intimidated, even by him, who must have been five years younger at least. The truth was, he might beat her. She had tried until now to hide it, but she was frail. If he hit her more than a little, she would be down. _The last of the Uchiha.. I wonder what he can do? I heard from Kakashi that he was really good..._

"Start!"...They both stood there motionless for a minute just sizing each other up. During lunch Maia had tried and tried to come up with a plan but didn't know his fighting style. So she would have to improv.. which was her second biggest weakness. _'Ugh.. He seems like the physical type... I hope he doesn't learn to play to my huge weakness."_

"Alright then, Fireball jutsu!" He blew a gigantic ball of fire out from his lungs and it comes heading toward her.

Immediately, Maia took the water from the nearby river and hurled it at him; the fire and water cancelled each other out. Then she hurled some senbon throwing needles towards him too. He dodged them with ease.

_Woah, he's fast on his feet!_ He did his phoenix flower jutsu puffing smaller fireballs at her in midair but she went into a backbend dodging each one. _Huh? They had shurriken inside them?_.

They flew at her but of course, she wasn't fast enough to evade them all. One of them cut her on the shoulder making her bleed. Now she was mad. Mad at him for hurting her, and at herself for having to be mad about something that should be so easy.

"That's it." He looked at her first triumphantly, but then noticed her devilish smirk. Her hair started waving around her face as she gathered her chakra. They gasped. Maia was sparkling with water droplets. It was understandable then why the Uchiha looked concerned. She was a wild card after all. "Start running." she tried to intimidate him, hoping that would help her case. He confidently smirked again, obviously it didn't work. She slowly raised her hand, motioning from the back of her to the front. A huge wave infused with her chakra spiraled toward Sasuke like the previous.

Naruto POV: Wow... this girl is good!

The jutsu she had used was like a chakra scalpel; an offensive attack that crippled the physical body of its victim. Sasuke would loose this battle for sure if he was twitching and not able to attack. Funny thing though, she saw the wave close in on him- saw him get sucked under, but somehow he came out from behind the wave smirking. He jumped towards her with a kunai headed for her. "An explosive tag? No..." Thinking this meant the end of the battle for her, Maia ran as fast as she could from the fire in an attempt to escape. When it went off it got each of them caked with mud. "It was just a distraction!" The ninja female mentally chided herself. She might have been good with ninjutsu, but evidently was still gullible when it came to her clouded judgement.

"Let's end this!" He shouted. Sasuke came at her and they both started to fight hand to hand combat. Inwardly groaning, the girl hopelessly lashed out at him. Her hand missed its target, and when he returned a blow the girl howled in pain. The others looked confused, coming to the realization of her frailness in taijutsu. Her secret had been exposed. _I will continue to fight until I'm broken on the ground... This isn't over until it's over. _He smirked and shoved a kunai at her but... an force stopped it in midair.

"Woah! What the heck? Why doesn't he just get her already?" Naruto had missed the invisible barrier that had just blocked her from getting hurt. Maia gasped, what had that been? It had happened once before in training... time to bluff.

"Never shove things in my face." The boy fought her hand to hand now, and though his first move had helped her gain a little more confidence, his hits made her bones feel like shattering. Maia soon found it safest to evade every hit, in fear of breaking something, and to return every blow with water. He fought her like that, trading punches for splashes for another minute, but her evasiveness had brought them to an even level again.

Kakashi POV: I'm not certain what happened there, but it looks like she's frail. Looks like she's trying to make up for it though. I'll watch until it looks like she's hurting herself.

Just as her energy was dropping to its last reserves. They heard a whistle.

"Alright, that's enough! The two genin both stopped.

"Huh?"

"I'm declaring this match a tie. Sasuke looked impressed and disappointed but Maia was secretly relieved. He was a good fighter that had brought her near her wagered, they matched up evenly overall. They both nodded grinned in approval of one another. Her head pounded. _Now everyone must think I'm such a loser... I'm not..__._

"Sasuke that was very good. Maia, you too. I want you to help me train Sakura today after we take a break." The eldest kunoichi nodded.

"Got it." When the three genin went to collect their lunches, Kakashi walked over to her.

"Maia, are you alright?" The girl hid her tiredness under a smile.

"I'm fine, why?"

"It looked like you having a hard time with Taijutsu. Is there something you need to tell me?" Her heart sank. She looked down at her feet. It wasn't fair it had to be this way with her.

"No, there's nothing."

"Maia, is it that you're frail?" He was so hot, and cool and smooth. It made her feel inferior to have him look at her with concern. Finally her gaze met his.

"I'm not weak..." His eyes pressed into her. "But yes... I guess that's the best word." He looked at her untroubled.

"I'll let you handle yourself then; it seems like your ninjutsu is higher than normal. It makes up for some of it. Just make sure you don't get hit too hard. I don't want to getting hurt so you can't fight." It felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Whatever the others thought, he wasn't looking down on her.

* * *

*"That was a good math. It looks like your memory hasn't been completely wiped away."* The force of the evil man touched her hair, making her gasp. His energy pressed at her arms and hands, wanting to take control.

"I've.. I've learned a lot over the last few months."

*"Little frail Maia, it's almost too pathetic. The Uchiha would have injured you severely if I had not intervened."* His voice was harsh.

"That was you who made the kunai stop in midair? I had wondered. Then why won't you let me handle my fights alone? I'll keep trying my best. I have no idea who you are. I have no reason to trust you."

*"I will let the enemy hurt you then. Maybe then you will learn your lesson. Eat your lunch."* It faded leaving her with chills. _Whatever this man is, I've got to find him one day._ She tried her best to shake off her chills from the unsettling contact, comforting herself with food. Eventually, she heard a wrestle in the trees. It was Hatake.

* * *

Her heart leapt at the surprise. _Jounin certainly have a way with moving silently. _

"Oh, and I forgot, what was it you liked doing again?"

"I write and I sing?" He nodded. It was clear he had half been paying attention the first day they had met, but now it almost seemed like he was looking in closer. Getting to know her?

"I was truly very impressed with you today. I wanted to tell you about the Chuunin exams exams."

"The chuunin exams?"

"Every year semiannually, ninja genin from the five great nations gather to test themselves against other genin. The top fighters from every nation become middle ranked ninja then. I'm thinking of taking the three of them to the next one. Normally I would love to take you too, but I can only take my squad of three. If you wanted, you would be assigned a temporary team. There is time to decide but I think you would do well."

"Thanks for telling me, I'll think about it." He would like to take her too? _No, stop this. This crush is getting out of hand. He was just being nice. _

* * *

After the break, Maia stood across from Sakura. Kakashi and the other three went off somewhere else to train but they'd return in a short while.

"Alright, Sakura, you against me. She placed her hands on her hips, tried to sound as much fun as possible.

"Well I'm not scared. I didn't use up any of my energy at all in my battle and you used up a lot of yours. So really I'm at an advantage, right? And why did Kakashi make YOU my teacher? Aren't we both gennin? I may even be better than you!"

"I still have a little energy left. I'll be fine. And he made me your teacher because I'm older than you. Now then, I want you to come at me with full force." She had no experience in training, but the least she could do was try her best to help Kakashi.

"Well alright but you'd better watch out. I'm stronger than I look!" She charged and came at Maia full force, they both spent a little while fighting hand to hand, but it was clear even Sakura was stronger than her. In the end, she decided she would have an evasive fighting style when it came to taijutsu. Maia knew she had a lot more left in her. _She has the inner force. I have an idea. _

"Wow, you really are weak." Maia said trying to sound as snobby and as arrogant as possible. "No wonder Sasuke doesn't like you.

"Says you! He totaly beat you up back a while! I saw the whole thing!"

"I think you're forgetting how you wouldn't even lift a finger to fight against him. Some shinobi you are. You're weak." _I hope I'll be forgiven later for this._

"WHAT'D YOU SAY?!" Her blows were getting harder and harder. Maia knew she was about to break.

"You heard what I said. I was even able to eat with Sasuke and talk a while. He would never do that with you." She stopped fighting dead in her tracks at the lie. Time for the final blow. "You would be better off dating Naruto than to be a ninja."

Her face went bright simmering red and in the background there is raving fire like when she gets mad.

"YOU NO- GOOD- ***ING MOTHER ***KING ***** ANNOREXIC LITTLE B**CH!"

She hurled a kunai. Maia hid her hurt feelings and deflected it with hers own weapon. _I wanted to get her mad at me, and I'm just small, I eat a lot, especially when it's my feelings. _ Then to her surprise, the pink haired kunoichi (it's a joke) opened up a scroll that revealed a huge cranking punching glove (Like the one ayame used to punch Kakashi in the when they wanted to see his face) Just in the nick of time she was able to make an invisible barrier saving herself. Her feet skidded on the ground from the impact. "Aghh!" They both huffed hard as she simmered down. Maia noticed there was someone behind her. Naruto and Sasuke were standing on either side of Kakashi, all looking very, very surprised and a little worried.

"Uhhh... Sakura?" Naruto mumbled. _(POV : Oh, come ON! Why won't she like me? I hate that Sasuke!)_

"How much did you see?" Maia turned to Kakashi.

"We just came a few seconds ago so we only saw that last of it. Maia, that was an excellent plan. And with your strong will, you were the perfect person to carry it out. (Kakashi POV: Sakura has an incredible amount of inner strength, no wonder Maia was barely able to deflect it.) Alright, that's enough for today. We've got a long way to go, class dismissed!"

Everyone started leaving but when she least expected it Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder making her stay.

"You don't have to come all this way tomorrow. I'm sure we can find a better way of training you. Come to our meeting place at around 4 tomorrow and we'll talk about your future as a ninja." Maia blushed.

"Okay, I'll find you then." He disappeared in a puff of smoke. She followed the other three home.

The five of them walked home in the sunset, tired and completely spent. Sakura was still sulking over the fact that not only had she not done one thing right during her fights with Sasuke, she had lost in training as well. Even Naruto's hyperactive rambling was minimized to a low mumble. When Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi left for their houses, Sasuke made you stop.

"Hey Maia," She turned to him who had been trudging beside her with his hands in his pockets the whole time.

"Hm?"

"I was wondering… if you wanted to train with me sometime." That surprised her big time. He hadn't given her much more attention than the others before now. It made sense he wanted to though. It seemed as if they both were equally matched in combat. She grinned.

"I'd like that. When were you thinking?" he of course did not match her happy expression. Instead he turned away with his hands in his pockets.

"How about tomorrow, at noon. I'll be in the training field."

"Okay I'll be there." He nodded and smirked, and they both waved at each other before departing. The entire day had been productive. Maia figured she would have to heal her wounds and sore muscles from training that night if she was to have a match against the Uchiha again the next day.

*Authors note: I'm not sure why I had Sakura take out a huge punching glove. It's not realistic and I wrote that part years ago. But it was in my brain and now it's on the internet. Also I can't wait to post more of when they grow up. They get much more mature. I like the kid Sasuke better but the older Naruto better. That's just my personal opinion though.


	6. Training with Neji, Tenten, and Kurenai

**Note: I've mostly just been setting up the main plot here in the last few chapters, and if you want to get to the more eventful stuff, these next two chapters are her growing fast over a longer period of time. Then it gets into more love and missions. Also for future reference, I actually love Kurenai she's great, I just needed to start off like this for a reason. Later they will become good friends. :)**

The next day at noon Maia met Sasuke the same place and time they had agreed upon. He was half a foot shorter than even her, she noted, and it felt a little funny to be fighting with a guy who was half a decade younger than she was, but it would be fun nonetheless. He had been waiting early with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," she said. He gave another nod. "So what do you want to do today?"

"Let's practice our shurriken. I don't want to fight you in taijutsu." She nodded, heart sinking a little more.

The entire training session was very productive. The two of them threw shurriken at the targets in various matching patterns. It was harder for her than most things, and she opted to use lighter senbon instead. He wasn't eager to show most that he viewed them in a good light, in fact most times he encountered a peer ninja who matched him he obsessed over it. She figured the age difference made it easier for the two of them. _I wonder what it would be like if i fought with Kakashi Hatake... he would win, but he's a jounin too. _The two worked at their own paces for a while, each in their own thoughts.

"Let's take a break," he said. Maia panted and grinned at him. He had let his guard down to her more than anything she had ever seen through training. Would they become friends?

"Yeah I need that right about now." Using a little jutsu she moved the water in your container at your hip until it reached her forehead where she cooled yourself off. He watched and took a drink from his water bottle. In a minute when they caught their breaths, he started walking over to a more open area.

"Now. I want to fight you again" Geez, did he even get tired? It was hot outside and without her water she would have been too dizzy to fight. The two of them took their fighting positions.

"What are the rules?"

"Hit me with everything you have. I want to see more of what you did last time," he told her with a small smile. She nodded and began. "GO!"

He knew she was weaker at taijutsu than him, so he ran up to her throwing shurriken, though holding back. However, that was exactly what Maia was expecting. Maia evaded his blows, hitting occasionally, using her using her water clones and him his fire style techniques. He was fast and strong, while her speed barely matched his. Typical Uchiha, the talent in him was formidable, even if he was much younger. It wouldn't end well if they kept it up like this. When Sasuke moved to kick her hard in the gut, she diverted his advances easily with a jump. Then when she landed she looked at him with a gleam in her eye. It was time to try your technique on a live person.

Maia extended her right hand out in front of her, wiggling her fingers. He felt the energetic pull immediately and stopped in his tracks with a curious glance.

"What is this?" She chuckled.

"You'll see."

Sasuke's chakra was strong, she saw, it circulated sharply throughout his body, in and out of him. It was pointy textured. He was a lightning type. That meant she would have to be careful to not take any chakra from him thereby hurting herself. Her hands pulled energetic strings touching his chakra centers, which spun to the right, so she made them turn to the left. He clutched his gut in discomfort. It felt like he had been hit with a brick from the inside of his stomach. What was happening? Then she went and merged a little of two of his chakras together, so the energy mixed into a weird grey color. Then she cut off the flow of energy from his arms. They dropped to his sides, unable to move them. He looked to the sky and swayed, dizzy. Finally, he fell to his knees.

"What in the—"

Match over.

Maia walked over to the blue shirted boy and helped him up with a smile. They walked over to a nearby bench where she sat down next to him. They had formed an unspoken friendship, even if it was a little one.

"What was that?" he finally said.

"I have no idea to be honest, it's a jutsu I use without hand signs. I use my chakra to create ties to your chakras, then I use my hand to manipulate them. Depending on which ones I used, I could make you feel a lot of things from peacefulness to horrible pain. It can be used to heal things too." He looked at her with a hint of irritation.

"Well can you heal me?" She nodded, turning to him and with her hand, mended the damage she had done.

"It will heal the rest of the way up over the next hour. This should stop the hurting." He clutched his arm with a grimace.

"Maia, you're insane."

"Hm?" That made her think. What if she had turned a little insane? If he only knew about the voice in her head that threatened her all to often. Yet never did she consider herself truly insane. "I'm not insane, just a little unique."

They talked of the fights they had, Maia told him he was much stronger in taijutsu whereas she had him beat in ninjutsu. They figured by now they were evenly matched in gentusu. He threatened that next time they trained together in class, he would have more ideas of how to beat her.

"That reminds me…." Maia turned away. "I won't be in your class any longer.

"What?"

"I talked with Kakashi this morning. He told me that there was no way he would be able to have me on team seven long term. I mean it makes sense, squads are broken up into threes, I just wish I had more time.

"Wait, then that means we won't be able to train anymore?" He looked up slightly disappointed. He had wanted to train more! Maia smiled at the thought that he wanted to let her in.

"No, I think we'll still be able to train. It just might not be as often. I have to go meet with Kakashi again soon though, I'll have to talk with you later."

"When will we see each other again?" Maia looked back at the boy. Oh no! Had she messed with another one of his chakras they wouldn't have this problem but now there was no turning back. She had messed with his heart chakra!

"It won't be too far from now." Was that a little, teeny, tiny crush he had in his eyes? No way. It had to be something else. He was cute, but he was too young for her. The girl went up to him with her hand and gave him three pats upon the head. He looked to her confused, like she had just told him she loved eating plain mayonnaise on toast.

"What the heck was that for?"

"Good job today, Sasuke." ^_^ With that she walked off.

* * *

Maia met Kakashi twenty minutes after the time she was supposed to because she knew that's when he would come. The kunoichi admitted, she was kind of nervous for meeting him. How did he see her, the kunoichi trying to find her memory? Would the two of them be training together from now on? He finally appeared out of the dense fog with a woman dressed in a white bandage dress with red sleeves. Her heart jumped. He looked as hot as ever.

"Sorry I'm late, I had a few errands to run."

"No problem- it's totally fine." She thought it was cute when he scratched the back of his head in awkward situations. " Really? Wow- I mean good to hear. Allrighty then..."

'Snap out of it Maia. You're not good enough for him. And besides he was with that women! Is that his girlfriend?' Hurt filled her a little though she tried telling herself she had no reason to believe they were together. He had brought her for another reason. Right? The two of them talked about what to do with her future. He decided the best course of action for the time being was to let her train by herself in the morning and afternoon, and then in the evening she and the red women named Kurenai could work together. Then in a week or so, he would check up on her, then a week from that he would once more. She was happy that he would be visiting her from time to time, until they had a new assignment for her. He would be in touch, leaving her to grow on her own with older kids. The two who would help her to grow, however, happened to only be a year older than the last trio.

Maia woke up the next morning to the lilac blue sky. When she headed to the training field some people were already there. One was wearing a tan robe with long brown hair and the other a pink shirt and pom pom buns. Maia minded your own business and started a jutsu, creating a chakra barrier around her arms and front. The chakra was a strange color of light blue and sea green and it rippled like a jellyfish. Her unique chakra. The odd jutsu caught their attention so they came over.

"Excuse me, but I don't believe we've been acquainted yet properly. I'm Neji Huuga." He had intense eyes. If she weren't years older, she might even admit they were attractive. Certainly he was beautiful.

"Nice to mean you Neji, my name is Maia Nishikawa."

"Is this that girl from the academy a year ago?" said the girl. "Hi, I'm Tenten."

"It's nice to meet you Tenten." She noticed Neji had turned himself not quite facing her and crossed his arms. It was as if he wanted to accuse her of not being from here and not belonging.

"I heard you were found in a clearing with no memory and a different ninja headband." You nodded.

"Yeah I have it in my house now. I have no idea which village it's from." He continued giving her the evil eye. "But I'm not an illegal immigrant, I fight in missions here and work for the village."

"It doesn't mean you belong here." Neji was harsh. It hurt.

"Neji, don't be so mean! It's not like we have anything to hold against her, she's nice." Tenten smiled, making her feel less hurt though she was still nervous. She sounded pretty nice. The three of them continued talking until Neji softened up a little. He seemed very curious in her story while Tenten wanted to get back to work. After a while they did; she found out that both of them fought like.

Each practiced their jutsu for several hours until Maia got hungry so she went for some lunch where you met Gai and Lee- the two oddballs wearing matching green spandex suits. They talked a lot about passion and youth and she kind of just let them go on there way. (Gai called her a babe!) Then after lunch she did some jutsu by the water where Neji and Tenten saw her again and thought she was pretty darn good for a girl her age.

Finally, it was evening. After your dinner Maia met Kurenai who took her out into the woods.

"I took a look at your test records. They were pretty average, but your teachers comment that you're one of the most intelligent students they had ever taught. That's good, we won't have to spend so much time explaining everything. What do you know already?"

"Know? I don't really know anything—"

"What about Genjutsu?"

They both talked for quite some time, answering her questions about how she thought and what she would do in certain situations until she decided on what to do with her. It seemed like for some reason Kurenai was judging her; was it for the same reason as the rest of them? First she tested her chakra type. It was naturally water based. Then she demonstrated her skills. Maia realized she was very touchy about things- she tried to get passed the grudge. Why did they not get along well? She was so nice.

The next week or so Maia did the same thing, training in the morning, being taught in the evening by Kurenai who she did not like all that much because she was mean to her. One day she found out that she was dating a man named Asuma- and she was so relieved and not jealous that she wasn't with Kakashi. :]

Maia met with squad seven every now and then, to help in training and to train with Kakashi. He was so aloof he totally didn't get that she really liked him. One day he told her something very important.

Maia, Lord Hokage is here. She looked, the hokage was actually here in the training field with you to talk to her! Maia eased immediately at the presense of the Hokage, he had been so kind to her when they had first met, and she loved the gentleness of his face. This was a man who would easily give his life for his village. This was what it meant to be Hokage.

"Maia, the elders and I have been discussing and we think you're a very unique girl with good talent. I am sure Kakashi has already made arrangements for your training but I have a special plan for you. You have been lifted to a special rank...We need your unique abilities as an aid to the ANBU Interrogation Facility. You will not be in ANBU itself, but you will no longer need to train as an ordinary gennin. When I call for you, you will report to Ibiki Morino as his right hand man- er- woman. Girl. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Maia said, still shocked, holding in her excitement and nervousness. That was high up compared to an ordinary genin. Would she be hurt there? "I'll do whatever you need."

Later in the next few weeks, she met Kurenia's squad, Kiba, Shino, and a little quiet girl Hinata. Maia liked Hinata, but wasn't so sure about the other two. Kiba called her a hot babe all the time- never by your real name which irritated her, after all she wasn't that great, and the other was just not that talkative. She treated everyone she met with respect and were always friendly as long as they weren't rude. Kiba and Kurenai were an exception. One treated her like eyecandy with no mind or heart and the other treated her like a child. She was neither of those things in the least.

One day Maia and Kurenai were training- she was teaching her how to dodge and knock away kunai and shurriken that were set off on her in large groups. One of them cut her- really bad- and Kurenai had scoffed. She had been so mad when given the letter as proof of the promotion. She, being a woman without the high reputation of a main clan had worked hard for her promotion while Maia barely had to do anything at all.

"When will you ever learn? The Kunai aren't going to go away on there own, you need to deflect the throws yourself if you don't want to end up like that!"

"Says you! You're throwing too hard! (She had lost her patiance. She hated being accused of doing something wrong.)

"That's the stupidest excuse I've ever heard. The ninja aren't going to attack you and go soft just because you can't stand up for yourself."

"I haven't eaten!"

"Then you should eat, that's not my responsibility to feed you. With scrawny legs like that you look malnourished."

"I'm a pig compared to you!" She did an evil giggle. "You're a slut!"

"A what? I am 25 years old and you look only sixteen! You have no right to be talking to be this way! Lord Hokage may have given you a special job, but I am still a jounin and you are still a Genin. You are no match for me Young lady!"

Maia was mad. It was true you looked young, but it felt like you were older. It wasn't fair that she could tease an inferior about the identity predicament she was in and she had had enough. She swooped up and sent a whoosh of pure force towards the Jounin which knocked her almost to the ground. But the woman did a flip in the air and genjutsued the genin. Suddenly, Maia felt like she had a high fever and her head pounded but she didn't see anything which meant the jutsu didn't completely work. She slouched to the ground and threw up a little in the grass.

Kurenai POV: How could my attack not have worked? I've used it hundreds of times and it never fails. What is with this girl?

"I'm leaving. Forgive me Kurenai sensei."

Maia retreated and she left and you came to the lake nearby. No one was around... why not take a swim? She put all your clothes on a tree branch and waded in the cool, refreshing water until it up to her shoulders. After swimming around a little while she used her water element chakra to make some bubbles- Bubble Jutsu- and started singing a song in her oddly hypnotic voice. Maia had been gifted with music as long as she could remember, which wasn't very long. Then at some point the girl heard the bushes wrestle. She gasped.

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

From only forty feet away she saw Neji Huga, standing there, looking at her naked shoulders!

That's it for now!Well props if you made it to the bottom. I promise it will get more interesting and I'll get to more Kakashi love love and missions etc. Next let's see how Neji reacts!


	7. Time Skips

*I forgot to tell readers this, but a key feature in her appearance is that her eyes are like closed doors. They look glassy a little like the huuga's eyes but not whitish, they're bluish green and just a little glassed over. She can see more than most, but claims she has a curse called The Gaze- she often looks off as if into some unseen dimension, spacy and wide eyed. It's like instead of having closed off eyes like Itachi's hers look like they open into her soul. The gaze is not ninja related, it will make sense later when she finds out. (If you look at Itachi close in an episode you'll see his eyes are closed off too. The gaze only goes away when she's in physical contact with her chakra element- water.) *

* * *

O_o

Neji stared at Maia in her nakedness covered only by water and she stared back in shock. So embarrassing. AHHHHH!

"Neji Huuga, you LOOK AWAY!" He finally comes out of brief shock and hurries away.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm leaving right away!" It took the shaken kunoichi a while to settle back down. Maybe she did like him a teeny weeny little bit, but not compared to Hatake. He was way too young and that was way too much. You'd never tell anyone but Tenten, who laughed when she heard. Maia ran tiptoe out of the water as fast as you could and grabbed your clothes and put them on. She was going straight home. ^_^

Two months passed. Maia worked with Ibiki Morino at the mental interrogation center, he found her very helpful. Her intuition was second to none and through the vibrations she could indicate whether or not a person had been lying. Sometimes she trained- Neji politely apologized next to a giggling Tenten and though Maia knew it was all an accident she couldn't help but think it was kind of satisfying when she saw him staring at her out of the corner of his eye- when the kunoichi turned he quickly looked away.

* * *

Maia obeyed the Hokage's orders and sometimes he sent her on her own three man squad to go deliver messages to other lands. She barely ever saw the other young gennin anymore.

After two months of training Maia took the chuunin exam. She sat near Ibiki in the front- all the other ninja competing were really intimidating and Ibiki's tall and protective frame reassured her. Since she was in the front, she didn't see the rookies or any of the shenanigans that went on. Later Maia met Anko when she appeared- she liked her. She was so cool and tough and funny- even magnetic. The first part of the exam was easy. She sat in the middle and with her gift at intuition, "picked the answers to the questions she didn't know straight out of the air." No ninjutsu needed. In the end Naruto's outburst after Ibiki threatened to drop all of them in the final question did give you some backbone- a lot actually. It was expected that Ibiki would make her want to throw her brain out of her head, after all he was the best at what he did. She passed without a hitch. Ibiki gave her a high five and a smile. :]

In the forest of death she was put with a group of older genin from the leaf. She felt kind of like a misfit- not an uncommon feeling for her- but with little struggle, passed without a hitch second place to Gaara's team. The hardest part had been when the man eating snake had come for her team and they had to get a teammate out of his stomach. That and the fact they had no food. She was beginning to feel really confident about the whole thing.

In the preliminaries her opponent was a girl from the sound village. She had black hair and was very pretty. Maia shocked the audience when the girl used a special jutsu to wound her deeply in MANY places with kunai and Maia didn't even flinch or waver as she walked straight up to her and used a beam of energy to knock her to the ground, toughing out the pain.

It was then when Maia learned to thank her mental tormenter, the voice, for his assistance. Though uncertain, she had a feeling it was due to his control of her that made her immune to the many injuries.

The Hokage and the elders decided to not make her compete in the finals. Thinking she had already been a chuunin before she was found, it wasn't important that she continue to prove she was a middle ninja. Thank goodness she was not involved, for the man in her mind was furious when she had let her opponent live. He tried to control her entire body, making her regret her choice to save the girl. Maia locked herself in her room through the entire battle over the village, fighting a battle with her own mind instead. When she found out the Hokage had been killed, Maia was distraught. He had been so kind and gentle and a true hero to her and to everyone. He would gladly have died for them, but she would miss his gentle voice as he walked through the halls of the Hokage house. It was bitter sweet when she made Chuunin with Shikamaru.

* * *

During Reconstruction Arc-

The elders summoned her to a meeting because they wanted her input on who should be the next Hokage. (Like Shikamaru, Maia helped as an advisor at times, it had been the late Hokage's idea to have her help in order to keep watch over her.) She had just met the pervy Sage Jirayah, and was not so ready to give him a position of authority just yet. :/ He had already made several sexual advances and as she saw it- he verbally assaulted you. He was a gooffy, silly, sick minded perverted old man and he was not fit to become Hokage of the Leaf Village.

Just then as she entered the threshold of the Hokage's Workplace, Maia met Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji.

"Oh, look! It's that Maia girl!" The blonde pointed an accusing finger towards her.

"Hey Maia! What are you doing here?"

"Hey Choji. I'm here to see the elders about the new Hokage. What are you guys doing here?"

"They were just waiting for me to give my input on the new Hokage same as you. We're heading to go see Asuma at the Hospital. Well, we gotta go. See ya." The new chuunin's voice lulled lazily as he made for the door with a wave. She returned the farewell but was not so lucky as to continue on her path. Ino was in a competitive mood.

"Wait right there shikamaru- Im not ready to go just yet. Who are you? Why did they make YOU a chuunin?"

"I think we're really low on manpower right now so they chose me and Shikamaru because we're both ready. I was most likely a chuunin before I was found here."

"Some man YOU are!" It was true, she had a heavily womanly appearance.

"Oh, just chill ino. Sorry, she's just jealous because you're a girl-"

"I'm not jealous of her! I just don't see why she's good enough to be a chuunin! Let's go Maia, I wanna see you fight! I bet I can take you!"

"I don't really...-"

"I said let's fight!"

Maia decided it was better to do this than to ignore her- that would make an even bigger fight. Besides, they were ten minutes early. She took your place across from the blonde genin, the light from outside illuminating her from behind.

"Mind transfer Jutsu!" Shikamaru lazily caught her limp body. Maia, however didn't even try to dodge. _Let's she what happens when I let it in. I have a man in there already, so it won't work! _She looked at the spot in the air where Ino's life force floated in the air, (a yellowish blue blob, visible to her) coming towards her and broadened her Gaze. (see the top explanation about the eyes)

"That kind of Jutsu doesn't work on me." Maia walked straight into the mental attack and to the stairs, unaffected. It worked! "See you later Shikamaru." The man in her mind might have been evil, but he helped her with mental attacks. She left him stunned, holding Ino's uncontious body and went upstairs to tell the elders her rather extreme views on the next hokage.


	8. Her First Chuunin Mission

Maia stepped into the room filled with several ninja, and the Elders.

"Maia Nishikawa. Good to see you." Homorai bowed to her with great respect. That wasn't how he normally addressed everyone was it? Weird. In either case, she barely noticed, only the accusation on her mind:

"Jirayah is absolutely out of the question! Why would anyone want him as the Hokage of a Village? I mean I get it, he's strong, but Hokage is not strength alone. The person who is chosen to lead this village in such a vital time must take the position seriously- something master Jiraya can't be. He has insulted the things I live by, hit on me multiple times, and has even verbally harassed me! He's a childlike, sick minded, perverted old man unfit to be Hokage!" Whew, that had been a mouthful. The entire group of high rank ninja stared at her, taken aback by the outburst.

...

"Is that all?

"Yes, I'm- I'm sorry. Forgive me for being so straightforward but I had to tell you the truth." It was true he wasn't all that bad, it mostly was due to the fact he had treated her like trash the first time they met that she held her opinion of him. (He had been drunk though, but that was another reason why he shouldn't be Hokage.)

She continued to talk with them- He could get serious when the time came and they didn't have many alternatives. Maia insisted they give the position to someone with a better judgment and give him the job of watching Orochimaru and what he's planning. They thanked her for her 'honest' input.

" One last thing, Maia. We have a mission for you." It was the female elder this time, addressing her with equal respect. Now she wondered, why were they treating her that way?

"What? This is an A rank mission! Are you sure?"

"Our village is low on manpower right now as I'm sure you understand. We have seen your unique abilities and this mission will involve a lot of guesswork. I'm sure someone with your unique skills will be able to handle the job. We're sending two squads as a search party to chase down several of Orochimaru's men who were found near here and interrogate them. They've been wrecking towns and were in contact with a spy in the leaf. They have documents on the location of a treasure the Sound desperately seeks out. They're not to be underestimated, each is a high chuunin listed in the Bingo Book with a unique and formidable jutsu taught to them by the Sennin himself. If you would graciously accept this assignment, you are to meet Kurenai, Asuma, Anko, and Gai in a few hours. They'll be in the parlor down the stairs."

"Squads are broken into groups of three. Why will there be five of us? Is Kakashi coming too?"

"Kakashi is currently in the hospital, he was taken out by Itachi Uchiha a few days ago. Iruka sensei will meet up with you after you've exited the village. Thank you for the help and good luck." What had happened to Kakashi? Would he fully recover?

Maia met the four ubber- class Jounin in the parlor a while after she had lunch. She liked Anko, who though intimidating seemed like a fun person to be around.

"Well look who's here, it's the little girl from the Chuunin exams!" She waved at you with a big bright smile. Maia waved back timidly.

"Hi."

"She's not little, Anko." Said Gai. "She has no youth at ALL."

"I'd guess she's seventeen. We don't really know for sure though." Asuma helped the girl's case for once. Thanks Asuma.

"Oh, really? She looks kinda young to me."

"I'm near twenty actually, I had a genetic examination early on when I came into the village." She felt kind of dumb and cast out. Too bad Anko didn't seem to care.

"Is that right? Well listen up, pipsqueak, we're on a very important mission here! You gotta help us find the men who escaped from prison last night, they're really touchy!

"Yep, I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"There's more to the mission that the elders most likely haven't told you." Asuma inhaled smoke and while it exited through his teeth he informed her. "These ninja, the elders must have told you they're after a treasure. The treasure's not gold. It's a jutsu. Long ago, when Orochimaru was in the leaf village, he conducted research on the nature of medical ninjutsu and how chakra relates to the human body and it's limitations. The medical research was extensive, though it was half finished. When orochimaru left, he was forced to abandon much of his work here, and he gladly left this too, telling them it was worthless. But it turned out that was a lie. If he finished this, he could essentially create a medical ninjutsu to elongate his life a hundred or so years. If improved, it could even make him immortal." There was a long pause as each ninja contemplated what that would imply. The sennin had ended the life of his master in a day. He had caused so much harm in his life already. To think of the idea he could live forever was too high a risk to take. They needed to catch these messengers who had the research. There was no option to fail. If only the copy ninja had been here, he would help them too.

"I won't let him get away with this..." Anko glared into the floor, passion and hidden emotion on her face. "I don't care what it takes I won't have him living forever." Maia thought she saw a glimmer of love in the woman's eyes. _No, I must have been mistaken. No one loves him, do they? _Maia broke the tension with her own thoughts.

"I heard about Kakashi being in the hospital. Is he okay? What happened to him?"

"Aww man he got messed up bad by Itachi Uchiha! He'll be out for like a week says the elders. Oh, have you heard of the story about Itachi murdering his entire clan?"

"No- What? Is that what sasuke was talking about?" Asuma proceeded to tell her the story of how the clan heir and prodigy of the Uchiha clan murdered them all one night. How Sasuke lived to avenge him.

Well anyways, Itachi came back to the village just about a week ago looking for Naruto- they say he's part of some hot shot orginization called the Akatsuki. The poor sucker got caught in his genjutsu and we have no idea what he did to 'em."

"As if he has any right to show his face in here after what he did."

"Hmm..." Maia thought to herself. Something in her gut told her there was something more behind Sasuke's story.

* * *

The moment they left the village Maia was scared out of her nippers. Or maybe just insecure. It was really weird being with a bunch of people who were older and better at fighting than her. She told them in which direction they should head and broke off into two squads. Anko and Gai were in hers, Asuma and Kurenai went off to the east. Traveling was easy, Maia used her sensory abilities to ensure they weren't being pursued. After a while it started getting dark. The three of them decided camp in the trees and start up again tomorrow. She sat down on a tree branch and adjusted her gear, not knowing what else to do. Anko to her surprise came over and sat next to her!

"You know you were kind of something in those exams. I think I'm starting to see why they made you a chuuin."

"Thanks I mean- You really think so?"

"Yeah sure. You have a LOT of potential." She felt really flattered. Before she had been a little tough on her, but now that they both had some time together she didn't think the chuunin was so bad. They grinned together.

The next morning the three of them set off again towards an outpost bordering the Sound Village.

"What is this?"

The entire outpost had been completely wrecked. Few victims lined the streets, hopefully they had run away, but those that had not were all dead. Electric blue markings lined buildings in a strange zigzag pattern, many houses had exploded. The three of them walked into the settlement looking for survivors or signs of where the attackers went.

"This is horrible. They left no sign." Gai scratche his head.

"They went to the East. Asuma and Kurenai might have found this place already. We should reconnect with them up ahead or track the criminals down on our own."

"I like number two. They might be making love right now." Anko laughed at her own joke. Maia gave an embarrassed sigh.

They weren't far into Sound territory for long before they caught up with the enemy. The squad hid behind trees, thinking of a plan.

"It's only two of them. If we jump from up here it shouldn't be a problem, not for the three of us." Gai wasn't the brightest but the plan would work. They jumped from the trees in a sneak attack, however, that was exactly what the enemy wanted.

"We've been ambushed from above!" Maia yelled. The four thugs came at you from all directions and lucky her was paired up with one of the biggest and the strongest. Turning every way for help, she noticed there was no way for them to come to her aid.

"Little lady eh? Looks harmless. Maybe we'll just pack you up and take you with us to our Master."

"No way!" He lashed out with the blue lightning jutsu, it was powerful enough to cut through trunks of huge trees in one blow. Maia dodged, but he used wire and paper bombs to lure her into a corner where he would finish her off. Not to mention she discovered his chakra made him invisible. Maia was no match for him. There was no where she could try to hide. _If I use my new jutsu, it will hit my teammates too! _ In a last attempt, Maia yelled out and used every last bit of chakra in her to take control in a kick-butt genjutsu attack. Everyone was forced to look mesmerized at the swirling display of color and music, messing with each of the senses. The criminals dropped to the ground in a daze. It was unknown why her teammates were left standing. It gave the two of them the time they needed to wrap things up.

"Wow, Maia! Great Job!" Anko gave her a wink and a thumbs up but all Maia could do was smile weakly. Her chakra had been spent. _It was only luck that that move didn't take my life…_ Anko saw the overly spacey Gaze in Maia's eyes and sort of paused.

"Hey girly, I got you!" The jounin caught her mid-fall. The chuunin could barely stand let alone carry a body so Gai had to carry three which he said was no problem and Anko carried one.

They still couldn't find the documents. Anko and Gai searched the criminal's nearby camp leaving her to look in their packs. She searched trying to stay upwards but suddenly two more criminals came jumping at them from behind! _It's exactly what they did last time! I fell for the same exact trick! We were overpowered gradually before we had the time to come up with a proper plan, and now I'm too exhausted to fight._

"Woahhh! It's a little ninja girl! Hey girly" One had messy brown hair and one had straight black hair. They teased her but the kuniochi was confident for some reason.

"Why would you men even want to side with such a horrible man? He's using you!" The man in the brown hair gripped his weapon proudly.

"Lord Orochimaru is just misunderstood. Misunderstood like I was. He wants to be immortal. Think of what would happen if a man with his power and brilliance could live forever? Think of the jutsu he could learn and the lives he could save? He put an end to the fighting in my town and understood my pain. He told me he'll teach me new jutsu like the one I use now. Why would I not want what he wants?"

"He's lying to you! He's manipulating you!"

"That's enough, little kunoichi. It turns out you're just a nuisance. Lord Orochimaru would never want you for any purpose, so I'll take your life for him!" The ninja with the brown hair used his ninja art to trap her in thorns and leaves. The moment she broke free both of the men took out huge swords. She was about to die. Maia closed her eyes and braced herself.

Two kunai came out of the air from different angles, pinning the thugs to trees. "Anko?" A third and fourth kunai came at you now, pinning you to a tree as well.

Alrighty, that's it! hope you Liked it! Next see who saved her but and then pinned her to a tree!


	9. A Fateful Encounter with Itachi Uchiha

*Warning: If you haven't gotten past the episodes where Sasuke talks to Tobi in the anime, this chapter is NOT TO BE READ. In fact, dont read any of my itachi based chapters until you've gotten that far in the show!**

_Maia looked into the eyes of the enemy with a kunai pinned against her neck.- a man with blue skin and strange gills on his cheeckbones glared at her. He had a menacing evil grin that revealed razor sharp teeth._

_"Well, well, looks like we got ourselves a little kunoichi, doesn't it?" She recognized the name and followed his gaze to a very young man with long black hair in a matching cloak. He didn't acknowledge her at all, nor give him instructions. "Very well then." The shark man pressed the kunai harder to her neck. Maia scowled._

_It was true, she was afraid. If these two men were from the Akatsuki, they could easily kill her. They had no reason not to. The ease that they took out the men she had fought so hard to incapacitate showed just how out of her league she was. The man with the long hair looked at her looked to her with neutral expression. For some reason she felt a sense of solid reassurance. Maia continued looking and noticed... his eyes were like closed doors, counter to her open ones. Their eyes connected for a split second before she told the man in a commanding tone_

_"I'm sorry but I am not in the mood to be tasled with right now. I'll be on my way now of you would please put me down." The man's eyes opened wide- no one commanded him. Ever. There was a force behind her words that were not her own. It was as if she was being controlled. _

_"Kisame. Hold off. We have no reason to unecissarly kill her. She's no harm to us." He looked at the raven haired man with confusion but let down his kunai. _

"_Very well then. You're always so passive when it comes to fighting. It's uncharacteristic of you considering how many you killed in the past. I just waned to have a little fun." He never troubled himself with a response to his comrade. Maia raised her hand. It was true, her words had not entirely her own. It This time, she would use her gift. But the evil man in her head was doing the controlling. With her eyes, she looked into his life force._

-_His chakra network was very connected but slightly irregular. The energy seemed to be sucking inward tightly letting very little emotion out. He was high functioning to the greatest extent. The most powerful shinobi she had ever met, certainly. It was time for her to show him what she could do. The girl put on an enignatic face.-_

_"It seems your intuition is impressive as well as your logic. IQ of 178. Medium- old soul. That's interesting, What are you here for?"_

_His expression did not change, but Maia saw a slight curiosity deep within his eyes. She smirked inwardly. He had not expected her to be able to gather information on him so intuitively._

_"I have no need to tell you. It's none of your concern." Maia smiled gently then. Suddenly her mouth moved on its own. Her head had been channeling information from another place and she had no idea how or why. Her vision flickered, finding his truth and she let out a gasp. Words came forth:_

_"Interesting... I hope you met with the hokage while you could, he must have known you were here. I'm sure he missed you." Her hand flew to her mouth. What had she just said? Itachi jolted inwardly, eyes going wide. That was not a good move, she thought to herself, now he would have to eliminate her. His finger twitched. In a sudden flash, the S rank nin was at her heart with a Kunai. Maia had only enough time to close her eyes before she met her end._

_Yet his weapon could not pierce her heart._

_Maia looked to see why. His hand was holding the weapon at her heart, not even a centimeter away, he was even using his entire strength to send it into her chest. It seemed there was an invisible force holding his hand at bay. Life force streamed out of her._

_He glared at her, questioningly. Surely if he had wanted to he could have ended her life. There was no way he wouldn't have been able to hurt her, she was new to being chuunin. Not even close to being untouchable. He would have killed her if he had the chance. Maybe the evil man inside her mind had helped her. He wanted to hurt her himself, after all. This had only been luck. Eventually, he put the kunai back and stood glaring at the girl, still pinned to the tree. _

_This conversation could not leak out. If it did it might lead to a world war and to the end of the village._

_"Who are you?" She looked over and noticed he had put his partner in a genjutsu._

_"Maia Nishikawa. I was found in a clearing here a few months ago." _

_"How in the hell did you know." His finger twitched once more._

_"I have no idea. Intuition I guess. I have the gift of sight too. Except that while your eyes create illusions I see the truth." Empathy made her hurt on the inside. "I can feel your pain, too. It's so heavy. Will you let me heal it?" His eyes squinted in suspicion. What the hell had she just asked? She gathered her chakra. "Let me give you this." Maia sent him healing chakra into his heart, not enough to heal his deep scars but enough for him to feel it even a little. He stepped back lifted his hand in caution but it got to him. With his persistent stern expression he uncomfortably nodded._

"_I'm taking you hostage."_

_"You don't have to. I would never tell a soul." She put her fingers to her lips. "After all, I love the village too, with all my heart. If you hear of anyone else who knows because I told them, you may kill me at once." _

"_I have no reason to trust you, nor to let you live. You'll come with us. If I were to let you go it would risk causing unimaginable harm to the village and to myself." _

_"Then give me a reason to live. Let me spy for you." Then she dared try it. "I'll look after your brother. I'll tell the elders the information you want me to relay to them and when the time comes you have more intel, I will meet with you. I'm aware now you have been sending information to the elders directly while they watch over him, but they cannot look into him like I can. If you let me go, I will watch over him more closely." He thought over for a moment. In a single flash she had found his weakness, and if he incorporated a little addition, this scheme would work with no risk to himself. There was a risk that one day Sasuke would leave the village in search for power. In order to give himself a heads up, this plan would be ideal. He would not trust her, but he could use her._

"_I will let you go, but I will watch you. If you so much as make one mistake, I will take you hostage or kill you even before you can escape." With that ensured, he finally let her down from the tree. _

"_That's a good idea, what will you use to watch me while you're away?" He made a hand sign and Maia felt slight burning pain on her side and in her mouth. What had he given to her?_

"_That will be with you wherever you go. If you talk with Sasuke, the message that you're near him will be relayed to me. I'm not often around the leaf village, but when I am it will appear too. That way, I will know how much you're watching him, and if you tell him the truth about me, it will summon the two of you to me. I will wipe his memories and take you hostage." The girl nodded willingly. He watched her with scrutiny. _

_"This will put your life in great risk. What is your motive? I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted something in return." She shook her head. _

_"Nothing in return. I love this village and I want to help protect it. I was found only a little while ago with amnesia, but I can't help feeling like I've lived here before." It didn't matter. Whatever her motive was it wouldn't harm his scheme. He had her under his control. He walked back to the exact spot he had been when he put Kisame under the genjutsu. The shark man shook his head. He had no idea what had happened; it seemed the raven haired man had simply stopped time for him or had made him listen to a dialogue of lies._

_"We'll give her the documents." He indicated towards his partner and he, confused as ever, went towards the men who were still held in place._

_"You heard him, give me the papers or I'll cut your throats." The men wriggled without protest they let down their bags. Maia watched as Itachi retrieved the documents and handed them to her halfhandedly. He stared off._

_"It seems I should introduce myself properly. My name is Uchiha Itachi."_

_"It's nice to meet you Itachi. Thank you for giving me these documents. We wouldn't be able to track Orochimaru without them."_ He nodded once more.

_"Maia Nishikawa.. we shall see each other again soon. I will send word when the time arrives. Until then farewell." He headed with Kisame back to where they had come from. Then, Maia had an idea._

"_Wait." Kisame was put in an illusion again. Itachi halted, not bothering to turn his head. "Teach me. In return for watching over your brother… would you help me learn?" Now the man looked at her. It was an unexpected and intriguing request. "It's hard learning things I must have already known and I want to grow and become stronger." That made him lower his head slightly. He looked at her with an indescribable expression._

"_Very well." The genjutsu was off. The two Akatsuki headed out past her. When they were next to her, he whispered to you so now only she could hear. "Never forget... I have my eye on you.."_

_He took off then into the trees. The shark man Kisame looked confused but gave her a menacing grin._

_"He's a strange one he is... Don't you tell anyone about anything or we'll be back but not so friendly." He took off following his raven haired companion leaving her alone again._

Maia looked out at the trees which had were blowing in the wind. That had been an unexpected turn of life events. Now not only was she under the occasional control of the evil man in her mind, she was under the control of Itachi Uchiha as well. What mess had she just gotten herself into?

_._...

"Maia!" It was Anko. Maia handed them the documents, making up a story about two ninja travellers (gai saw the footprints) and that allowed her to steal the documents. Everyone was happy and teased her, calling her the hero of the day. Maia felt guilty knowing you had done nothing but get caught twice. Itachi had been the real hero, not her. She picked up one body, Anko two, and Gai three and they all headed to deliver them to the leaf village to be put in prison.

That evening, travelling back, Maia and the Anko hung out in the trees.

"So I guess you really aren't much of a kid after all, is that it?"

"What do you mean- is that good?"

"That's great! I have a feeling you'll be one of the gang. We'll be going on more missions together now, you and me. How about it?"

"Yeah, sounds great!" They grinned together again. Maia and the special-jounin were going to get allong fine. "So, how long have you been a jounin?"

"I've been here awhile now, ever since I..."

"What?"

"Oh, never mind. It doesn't really matter."

"Oh, okay." She knew the woman was hiding something but didn't want to intrude so she left it alone. _I guess everyone has their secrets here _she thought.

When everyone returned to the village, Kakashi had recovered from his fight with Maia's new hidden ally. Anko told him how her performance had been the most surprising by far- and how she saved the day twice. He was caught off guard.

"You're really quite something, aren't you Maia?..." She inwardly blushed and gasped. He wasn't one to make that many compliments to most people, especially to the likes of her. Even more questionable was how he looked down at some unseen object on the ground, contemplating. What was he thinking?


	10. Hatake

After Maia recovered from the battle with the criminals and they were put in prison, she decided to train more. It was her duty to talk with the younger Uchiha now, and she made an effort to get him to open up. They went on walks after training where Maia talked of her feelings of living by herself with no family. How it hurt to be isolated. It worked. He told her his identity as an avenger, and how fighting Gaara and watching Naruto grow had made him want to get even stronger. The thought it might not be enough to have Kakashi teach him made the mark on Maia's side hurt. Had Itachi heard? He was thinking of leaving the village.

Then in the mornings Neji and Tenten came to watch and join her while she used her chakra to form the jellyfish like blob that could both heal and take chakra from an enemy. "So you really helped defeat the enemy ninja with a music genjutsu?" Tenten asked.

"And the secret documents are safe and returned to the Hokage?" Neji added.

"I guess, I mean I really don't know what I did." She wanted desperately to tell them about the strange encounter she had with Itachi Uchiha, how he had gotten her the documents and how she had just gotten pinned to a tree, but she knew she couldn't. He warned that he would put an end to her if anyone did find out and there was no reason not to believe him. Maia trained for two hours in long thought. When she got home, she found a note on her doorstep. It said:

"Meet me in the clearing next to Totaroki Park at 6. I have a task for you to do. Until then..."

It was signed Kakashi Hatake.

Maia's heart leapt. It was already 5:30 so she decided to go over. What task did he want her to do? She walked towards the park in contemplation. He had wanted to put more of an effort into training her individually. It must have been after the mission that he had gotten impressed. Then she thought of the way he had complimented her. How he had looked off to the ground, talked to her in that voice… The girl dared wonder... was this more than just training?

No, that was getting ahead of herself. He most likely wanted to help her improve, that was all. He had a day off. But what if... no, Maia had to stop herself from thinking too hard on it. That would be too good to be true. He was much too upper rank, mature, and aloof for her to ever deserve him. Soon she arrived at the park.

Just then, she saw Anko waving at her, holding a bag of coco-dumplings in her arms.

"Hey, Maia-chan! How are you doing?!"

"I'm good! You?"

"Great! Just getting ready for dinner. You've recovered?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I have to go! Kakashi has a training assignment for me!"

"Oh really? Weird, he never trains chuunin… Well, see you later girly!" She noticed the her blush and understood what the girl might be feeling. Maia let her notice and hurried towards the location he usually took squad seven to.

* * *

Kakashi was late, but only by a few minutes. He had been reading his book, which Maia curiously glanced at. _I wonder, what is the story in there if he's so invested in it_? "Sorry I'm late." his voice had the usual calm lilt to it.

"It's okay." She smiled nicely, trying to hide the butterflies in her stomach. Luckily he never seemed to notice.

"Alrighty then. So. I have a test for you. That is, if you're willing to complete it." He leaned against the nearby tree, still looking into his novel.

"What is it, Kakashi-san?"

"The thing is, I have seen that you are good at ninjutsu. Very talented." His eyes formed upside down u shapes in a smile. He was nice… "However, when it comes to strength, you're- well- how do I put it- rather wimpy."

What? He had to say that? It had been going so smoothly.. now she felt slightly out of place once more.

"Yeah, I realize that." she excused. "I guess in the life I had before I never practiced physical stuff that much."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm going to train you. Here's what were going to do." He stood up and walked to you. "You're going to have to fight me. Here are your weapons." He threw two kunai at her and she caught them. Maia looked up in astonishment.

"You want me to fight you? With these? I don't know about that, I'm really not that kind of person."

Kakashi POV: It really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to have her go through this, but I have to see how far she can go. Then I'll go to the next step of my little plan.

"Don't worry I'll go easy on you. "

"Um, okay, if that's what you want."

"Alrighty then. Ready? Set? Start!

Maia took a moment to think of what her first move should be. What was the man's weakness? Whatever it was, there was no way she could beat him at this level. 'It's just a test' Maia reminded herself. This isn't to beat him, it's just… why is he having me do this? The girl sprang at him nervously, holding her kunai out so she could maybe scratch him. He blocked using his own, easily. Then the countered with the swipe of his right hand. They exchanged a few more blows, but while finding her balance, there had been a little pebble in the grass that Maia's foot had been lucky enough to find. One moment she was trying to hit him, the next moment she was…

On the ground.

He looked down at her flatly. Maia blushed.

"It seems you're a little clumsy too. Or maybe just wanted a rest in the grass?"

"I've never fallen like that until now!" She got up, brushing herself off, embarrassed.

"It's no matter. In fact it was... how should I put it, a little cute."

"What?" The girl inwardly gasped and instantly hid her flushing cheeks while she got up to her feet once more.

"We'll try again. Go!"

This time she nervously moved first too. They took turns dodging each other's moves for a minute until he caught her mid-blow. Their kunai pressed hard against each other, each trying to get the other's hand to give. With one move, the fabric of his shirt brushed against her bare skin. For a moment they looked into each other's eyes. He seemed to be looking inside her eyes for some answer. She tried once more to hit him with senbon, but it was no use. Then he charged at her. His arm had gone a hair's breadth from touching her. She quickly evaded.

Maia POV while fighting: Why is he looking at me like that? It's like he's thinking something important about me but I can't tell what... I wonder if it has anything to do with what he just called me a minute ago.

He came at her again, catching her in a battle of hand to hand combat. He was so strong, much stronger than Neji and Sasuke. His white messy hair swayed back and fourth with every suave dodge and weave he made, while his breathing remained effortlessly even. He was holding back. They continued to clash, back and forth, until finally she jabbed out at him, but he dodged next to the trees, then lashed out at her again. In the last second she evaded his hand. He could tell she was not the naturally the aggressive type and that lashing out had suprised her. Then, Maia noticed his eyes were smiling. Was he toying with her?

"You're quick" he complimented.

"Not as quick as you," Maia smiled. She went at him again, hiding a tiny flush on her cheeks, and tried to get at him in another flurry of attacks- but at the same time, she didn't want to get him. His eyes never left her once while they fought. It was hard to want to hurt a guy like him, plus she was getting exhausted. Maia's heart raced; though she couldn't tell if it was from exhaustion or if it was from the man himself. _Now isn't the time to daydream, Maia, it's time to fight!_ She tried to bring herself back to earth.

"Getting tired?"

"I'm not giving up!" Maia tried to hide the fact she was nearly gasping for air.

Kakashi POV: We've been fighting for nearly ten minutes now. She has a strong will. It's like the will of… her… No. That's not possible.

He made one last gentle dash at her when her guard was down. Maia had just enough time to set out her invisible barrier; his weapons hit nothing but pushed her backward a little bit. The energy it took to counter his dash was more than she expected and made her slump over, finished. He halted, placing his weapon in his holster.

"Alright, we're done here. That's all I needed to see to decide what to do with you. I'm going to have you train with Kurenai in physical combat along with your genjutsu." Maia stood up, stunned. Was he really saying goodbye?

"Wait. You mean we're not going to train anymore?"

"No, you did very well. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot more of each other." He smiled once more. Wait, what? He hadn't just flirted with her had he? No. She shot down the idea at once. He was just being nice, like before. There was no need for him to train her. "I have a lot I need to accomplish with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. I've been training Sasuke separately now too, so I'll be a bit busy. Sorry."

"Oh. That's okay, I understand." Maia waved to him as he started to walk away, feeling like a hole of disappointment had been blown through her chest. After the little time they had had together, it had to end. This was the suckeyest news she had heard in a while. "Goodbye."

"See ya." He waved with two fingers up, then disappeared into smoke.

Little did she know, he hadn't told her goodbye. It had been the best news ever, for the copy ninja had a mystery on his mind.

* * *

The next day Maia slept in until noon, for a take it easy day. But when the girl looked in her pantry, she noticed that she had eaten the last of her food and therefore needed to go grocery shopping. So she put on a white dress and headed for the market. At the market you saw pictures of girls and boys holding each other, in love and happy. It made her think of Kakashi but you controlled your brain, it would never happen. 'I need to get those thoughts out of my mind! I'm not good enough. I'm just a chuunin.' Maia needed to chill. She needed to get it together. She decided to give herself a spa day, just to escape for a while. The cucumbers on her eyes and the two hour hot spring massage did wonders for her.

But then, when she began to make the journey home with grocery bags in hand, Maia noticed Kakashi was sitting near the bookstore, reading a newspaper! He was looking at her out of the corner of his eye! She remembered what he had said the other day 'I have a feeling we're going to see a lot more of each other.' He had meant it. Her heart jolted, stomach started getting butterflies. 'I have to stop this silly girly crush!' When she looked back at him, he had gone back to reading their newspaper. A few minutes later, however, the girl saw him again, he was leaning against a wall of a building, reading his book. Maia checked her mental health. Wait, hadn't he just been at the shop? Was he _following _her? Ten minutes went past, and she thought he wouldn't see her again. He had already made her a little dizzy from the first two encounters. But then, he walked up to her from behind. The surprise of it almost swept her off her feet.

"Well howdy doo, there." Maia would pretend that she hadn't noticed him.

"Oh, hey Kakashi, how are you?"

"Fine, I guess. I'm just taking it easy. You?"

"I'm great, I was just getting some groceries."

"I see. Well I did have something I wanted to talk with you about, ninja related, is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, of course." They both stepped out to the side of the street. He looked over his novel, lazy calmness in his eyes. "Well you see, the prisoners you fought a white ago just escaped, and the Elders said both of us are to go with Gai and bring them back. They were reported not to have stolen anything of any value, fortunately."

"How the heck did they escape again? I'm so sorry... it's my fault, and of course I will go, when do we need to leave?"

"It's no ones fault, they hadn't even taken back the documents. Intelligence reports claim they are headed to the base near an outpost beyond the borders so we don't have to leave until tomorrow morning. Until then, get some sleep, eat well, and report by the main gate at 8."

"Alright, I got it. Wait a minute, aren't you and Gai rivals?"

"Of a sort. He claims we're arch enemies, but it's all for improvement. He's full of nonsense."

"He is." Maia laughed politely. He seemed to notice something in her laugh.

"It's interesting… your smile reminds me of-" Just then two men called over to Kakashi, waving him over. He excused himself.

Her smile reminded him of someone?

"I'll tell the Elders you're coming with us and we'll head out at eight. Until then." Maia wanted to know what he was going to tell her about it, but it would have to wait. She walked away quite swiftly, wanting to go home and recuperate. Her cheeks were blushing.

At home Maia looked out the window in her bedroom, thinking over everything she had learned. It was funny, she had a feeling the thing he had said about her smile would help her find her memories. Maia closed her eyes that night, excited for the mission with Kakashi Hatake.


	11. Hidden Truths, Tangled Life

Recap: Maia trained with Kakashi and he started giving little signals! It turns out that even after all she had done fight the criminals they escaped again, and Kakashi asks her to come with him. He wanted to see more of her. Yet little did she know, their mission would change into something quite new, for that night, revenge was simmering in the air.

3:00 am

Maia woke with a start. Something was wrong.

Was there someone outside her window? Looking outside, she confirmed that she was alone. Then what was it that made her feel so uneasy? Dressing quickly, Maia decided to leave the house to take a walk, just in case anything were to happen. Her feet led her down the road intuitively. Maia enjoyed the cool night breeze against her skin as the moonlight shined down. It reminded her of the first night she had come to the Leaf; the first night she had found home.

"Thank you, for everything."

The feint sound of a male voice floated up the road to her ear followed by a hard thud. Had the male just hurt someone? Maia rushed towards the location of the sound in hopes of helping end an attack or at least to report it to the Hokage when she noticed the feather mark on her side had begun to burn lightly. This could only mean one person… What was he doing? The sight she came across made her gasp.

Sasuke was standing next to a fallen Sakura. Had he killed her? No, even if he never liked her all that much he wasn't cruel. Then, when he picked her up into his arms and placed her on the stone bench, the epiphany came, and her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

"You're leaving." The male nin turned to find the young woman standing in the shadows, illuminated in the moonlight.

"I am." Maia thought back to the encounter with Itachi.

**Flashback*** "If Sasuke is to try and leave the village, there will be no stopping him. He will never listen to reason. Even if you find a way to trap him behind bars, the hunger for revenge will continue to build inside him. In this case… let him leave. Let him leave his home village in hopes to become stronger. *End Flashback *

"Well? Aren't you going to try to stop me?" Maia smiled and shook her head.

"No. I'm going to let you leave." He looked at her in confusion. Her voice was calm and soft. "You really hate your older brother, don't you?" He scowled.

"I'm going to crush that Itachi. I need to train to become stronger so I can see him dying at my feet."

"How will you feel when he is gone? Sasuke, it won't make you feel any better, it will just fill you with emptiness." His voice turned to a low sulking growl.

"I thought maybe you understood a little of what I felt being alone. I guess I was wrong. It doesn't matter how I will feel. I'm already empty. I'll finally be satisfied when I've killed the man who took it all away from me in the first place!" Maia thought to herself of how Itachi must feel. He knew nothing of emptiness…

"Then you'll go to Orochimaru?" He nodded.

"He gave me the chance to gain power. I must take it." She smiled, heart sunk. This would be the last time then… she walked slowly towards him. He let her approach and put her hand on his shoulder. She noticed, he was half a foot shorter than her. Maia faked a grin to hide her sadness.

"Go then. I won't tell anyone you're leaving. They won't find out till morning." He smirked.

"Thank you. I'm glad we trained together." With that he headed towards the village exit.

"Oh, and Sasuke?" He turned.

"What?"

"Be safe." It was the last time that, like she had done before, Maia patted him on his head. The wind blew harder as he nodded and walked off, leaving her in the dark.

Maia looked at the pink haired girl lying unconscious on the bench. He had put her on the very bench that they had first had their little talk on. When the morning came, she knew Sakura would be heartbroken to find herself here, with him gone. There was nothing they could have done. Until then, Maia would try and get some sleep, for the mission tomorrow. If they were able to have one now that the whole village would be stirred up…

* * *

Maia woke to the sunrise the next morning early. Hurying to get out of the house, she gargled down some milk out of the carton and skadoodled out of the house. If the mission was still on, she was excited to be with Kakashi for a whole two to three days that her heart started beating fast. Would they eat together? What if Gai told him something embarrassing and ruined the whole trip? It would be a chance too good to be true though, she couldn't wait. Hopefully it would work…

She met Kakashi and Gai at the Main Gate and they smiled at her, waving. Gai explained the mission to her once again which Kakashi had already explained, making him mad at his rival. She walked next to Kakashi with Gai in the front out of the village. Maia's heart raced to be next to him but you could tell something didn't feel right. They had just left the village when she saw the pink haired girl come running to them in a panic. Tears poured out of the pinky's eyes.

"Sasuke-he's gone. He left the village." Maia's rehearsed eyes went wide, feigning surprise. Kakashi had a serious expression on his face and Gai was solemn.

"I felt some conflict between us last time we fought, so I can tell why he left but... We'll find Sasuke. Sakura, I need you to report this to the Hokage, we'll go from there." said kakashi. Maia looked at her genuinely, comfortingly. It was hard for her to let go, she knew how much she loved him. Maia secretly tried to hide the panic and guilt she feeling... though how would they ever found out she had let him go? Sakura would surely try to kill her.

Sakura ran to tell the Hokage, and Gai conversed with Kakashi as to what plan to take. Then Kakashi took her to the side. He put his hand on her arm and she tried to hide the aching feeling you felt in your chest.

"It looks like our mission will have to wait. It's not of great importance if the men get back to the village and we have to find our comrade before it's too late. I'm sorry, Maia." He gave his nice guy smile, eyes going into Us, and with that he left, off to follow Sakura. Gai looked at her with the dismayed face. Just then he said something that wasn't bad at all.

...

"He likes you, Maia Nishikawa. He always has that look on his face when he sees a girl he likes."

...

Maia couldn't find words to say. Her breath was caught in her chest.

"You can't see his face." With that she ran off, to find Naruto.

* * *

Naruto had just finished his ramen. He told her about what had happened in Itachi's fight with Sasuke and how his brother told him he was too weak.

"He was crazy, Itachi! He kicked Sasuke all the way across the hallway! He was really strong too, he escaped Pervy Sage's toad prison!" Maia's heart was torn between everyone now, and she realized she hadn't seen Naruto in a really long time, since before Orochimaru Killed the third Hokage. Feeling faint, Maia ran off and went home.

Now her life was torn in many ways. The man in her mind could control her, if and whenever he wanted. Her friend wanted to gain power in going to the man who killed the Hokage, who had been nice enough to make this her home. Her home wanted to get the genin back, and lastly, her new ally, Itachi, had her under his control too, and wanted him to leave. To think that he hurt Saskue to make him hate more tore her up even worse. Itachi new emptiness, not Sasuke. He had been wrong about everything. Now which path would she follow? It turns out the choice was made for her.

When Maia got to her house she found another letter tied to your door. She opened it thinking, could Kakashi have gotten to her that fast? What you found made your heart jolt in its place. It read:

To Maia Nishikawa, You recall I said I would send word for you when the time arrived. It has arrived. Tomorrow morning, I will meet you in the clearing furthest east of Konoha. Do not speak of this to anyone and make certain no one is tailing you. If I'm not mistaken, you have much you need to tell me. Signed, Itachi U.

Maia looked at it numbly. He had found out and come for her already. The message destructed into a cloud of smoke within five minutes. She knew what she had to do. She would talk with the Elders and meet him in the morning. Yes it was against the law and it would certainly be a risk to her life and career, but Maia didn't care. This was for her home. There had been such a sense of sureness when he had spoken to her, such a dark mysterious commanding force in his voice. In addition, she admitted, she was curious about this mystery high rank shinobi. Why he had those eyes like closed doors? How did he get them? Where did they come from, counter to her open ones? Maia had to know.

With that she rushed to the Hokage's House to tell the elders her secret. The secret of Itachi Uchiha. If they were to kill her, which wasn't unlikely, then it was for the village. If not, then it was the first step to her greatest adventure.


	12. Secret Revealed- Hashirama's Curse

Maia's heart raced. The elders sat near the wall on their chairs, eyeing her apprehensively. What would happen to her when she told them her secret? If they weren't going to trust her, she would certainly be killed. Then again if they tried to wipe her memory, her life as she knew it would be changed. Then again, if they ended up trusting her, her life would become one giant façade. It was like her existence was on a hair that could break at any moment, her next experiences to be determined only by them.

"Maia Nishikawa. What is the meaning of this immediate meeting?"

"I have something I must tell the two of you. However, before I do, I must ask that the guards leave. This is for your ears alone, it us of the utmost importance."

"We must ensure our safety with the guards. They are all trustworthy ninja. What reason do you have that they must leave?"

"It might lead to a large world war." Silence as expected. They told the guards to leave the doors closed, leaving Maia alone with the elders.

"Well?" Homorai said. There was still time to turn away. She could try to hide it for a while longer. 'No. It has to happen this way. This is my home and I will give my life to protect it. If Itachi sacrificed his life for the leaf, then I can too.' She gulped, waiting for a moment longer before cutting the thread to her fate herself.

"I know the secret behind Itachi Uchiha."

The two elderly siblings looked to each other in shock. How would they react?

"How did you find out?"

"I met him by odd coincidence on the last mission you gave me. He had been traveling with his partner when he saved my life and helped me gather the documents. I have no idea how I found out, I have the Gift of intuition. I just knew." It felt like a huge weight had been pulled off her shoulders to tell the elders that. It had long since been simmering inside her. She wouldn't tell them about the man who might have given the information from inside her head, however. They would call her crazy and have her put into a cell.

"Itachi would never have let you live if he knew you had that kind of intel!"

"He didn't want to, he tried to kill me while I was still pinned to the tree." She nervously laughed scratched the back of her head, reminiscent of Kakashi. They looked into her intensely now.

"What are you trying to say, child? Itachi Uchiha is an S rank shinobi, formerly the captain of the ANBU. He could have easily killed you."

"I have no idea what happened. One minute my eyes were closed ready to die, and the next his kunai was at heart. Except he couldn't hit me. It was like energy was rushing through me and I had an energy barrier he couldn't get through. He tried very hard. I have no idea what it was." Now the two of them looked at each other even more intensely than before, then back at her, then to each other again, whispering below her earshot.

"It's Hashirama's curse… so it's true then. We must treat this girl with the utmost care." They looked to her again, who was confused as ever. What were they mumbling about and what had happened that made Itachi let her live? Why were these two letting her live? Then, the door opened to the room and a man entered wearing a long white robe.

"Dazou, you're just in time. Will you please close the door? This is to be kept in the strictest secrecy." He obliged, Maia and the man eyed each other. There was most definitely something that made her uncomfortable about this man, there seemed to be a shadowy aura around him. No, she did not like him at all.

"Maia, this is Danzou Shimura, the head of Root. Danzo, this is Maia Nishikawa. This girl has figured out the secret behind the Uchiha massacre." His expression remained calm as he walked to her, looking over her in an examining fashion.

"I see… if that is the case, then we must kill her." Maia's heart lurched in her chest. This was it then, they would erase her after all and the secret with it. The man looked to her without a hint of compassion in his eyes. Her eyes watered up.

"No, Lord Danzo, we must not. The girl is under our care now." What? Why were they now on her side? How come no one would tell her what was going on and why were they being so nice?

"I see no reason why we must weigh her life over the village. It's high time we unsoften our approach to these matters here in the leaf. I've grown tired of the ways we treat threats. We must not risk her information getting into unknown hands." With that, he went over to her, reaching out to grab her.

"Wait!" Maia yelled. "I have more information. Itachi wasn't able to kill me, but we have a plan together. I'm to act as his spy for the village. He will meet with me in time using me to relay information of the Akatsuki onto you. In addition I was to talk with Sasuke." Then disregarding everyone's comfort, she lifted her dress, wearing shorts underneath preserved most of her modesty.

"Maia! What is the meaning of this?!"

"I agreed to have him place me under a binding jutsu. This is the mark he gave me. If I were to tell anyone his secret besides the three of you, it will summon him nearby where he will take me as hostage and wipe the memories of whoever I have told." They looked at her side.

"The mark is a black feather, no doubt it's Itachi's."

Danzo POV: If the girl were to be captured and her mind get into the wrong hand, this could lead to a world war. Why must we listen to his scheme when we can wipe her memory? However, these two don't seem like they will let me harm her. I must act quickly.

The man in the white cloak rushed to her instantly, before they had time to counter. His hand grabbed her head and pressed down.

"Memory wipe." The elders yelled in protest, Maia's eyes and mouth opened wide. What was this feeling? His plan to take the few memories she had collected since her life in the village had failed, however, for the field of energy formed around her head as it had around her with Itachi. Life force streamed out of her making a barrier. "What is the meaning of this?" he tried hard to no avail.

"I'm afraid trying to harm her will do no good. Not for you, anyways. Hashirama's curse is on her. None with the sharringan eye may hurt her. There is nothing you can do. We will not wipe her memories, and I trust you will not tell others the situation to wipe it either. Leave this to the main branch, Lord Danzo." He looked at her one last time with a menacing glare.

"I'll leave this to you, however Maia must know that I will be watching her activity now that the truth is out. If I notice anything suspicious, Itachi is not the only one you have to worry about." With that he left, robes swishing out the door. 'It's not as if I don't have other men watching me to worry about…' she thought to herself. When the sound of his cane was no longer heard, Maia turned to the elders once more.

"Would either of you like to tell me what's going on? I'm confused. What is Hashirama's curse? How did I get it and why would you let me live?"

"Neither of those answers are things we can hand over to you now. It's the safest plan to have you trust us without further question." That made her mad. Her patience broke.

"How can I not question?! My entire life I've been questioning the meaning of my existence here in this village! Why was I entered into the ninja academy when I might have family in another village? Why is it that I feel I've been here before in another life? How could I just guess what happened to Itachi when I had no idea who he was in the first place? Who the heck am I?!" The echo of her yells rank of the walls of the hall while they listened respectfully. It wasn't fair that she had to live with these questions continuously circulating through her head. That and the iscolation was beginning to get at her. Everyone had warmed up to her, but many treated her like a foreighner when Konoha was her home.

"Lady Nishikawa, this is for the best. In time we will tell you the truth but it's not time yet. Let this be a time to live a life for yourself unbound by the life you lived before. If it's an identity you wonder about, use this time to make a new one for yourself." The woman was kind to Maia, and talked to her with a maternal care. This was much appreciated, her words calmed the girl down. Homorai was less comforting.

"We will proceed with Itachi's plan. When he has information regarding the Akatsuki, you will relay it to us. Make certain no one finds out what truth you hide. I will notify Ibiki to have you trained in the mental interrogation process. In the maintime, forget about the curse and focus on your missions."

Maia glared at Homorai. It wasn't fair to make her wait for the answers. She would find them whether they liked it or not. Little by little the truth would surface. The girl nodded.

"Understood. I apologize for my outburst. I will work on controlling my emotions from now on. Itachi is expecting me tomorrow. I will relay you information when I can." They excused her, new mission in place. Maia would live her life as a spy for the man who murdered his entire clan, the man who lived as a true hero. With the man in her mind influencing her every move as well as the elders and Itachi to worry about her life had become

Maia went to bed at night thinking first of Itachi, then his younger brother, then of Itachi again. Then the smiling face of the jounin Hatake burst through into her mind. She smiled fondly at the words of Gai.

"I think he likes you, Maia Nishikawa. He always has that look on his face when he sees a girl he likes..." Her heart beat in excitement at the thought of him liking her of all girls, even if they knew nothing about each other. She smiled happily and went to sleep.

The end! Next time: First Meeting with Itachi!


	13. First Meeting with Itachi

Maia headed to the clearing in the forest as instructed by Itachi's parchment letter. Her stomach had butterflies, thinking of the extreme risk she was taking in meeting him in the first place. He was an S rank missing nin; if she was found, it would mean the end of her. If anyone was to get curious, she had a lie planned- she had been train gin all day and meditating, that's all. Ensuring no one had been tailing her, she made her way to the field. He arrived just as she had and stood next to the trunk of a tree, his left hand propped up inside his cloak, eyes watching her intensely. Maia felt embarrassed. It had only been a week from today they had made their scheme for her to watch his younger brother in case he chose to leave village. He had, and she had only talked with him a few times. It felt wrong to have made a plan to help Itachi when now it was too late. Not only was she nervous for what he would think on this matter, but of what he would think of her as a student. The second half of her plan involved him teaching her and though she wanted to learn, he was so much better than her- stronger, wiser and more experienced... she was worried what he would think of her fighting. It mattered not that she had the talent for ninjutsu, she was merely a chuunin.

"Hey, I got your message." Maia waved weakly. He nodded, absentmindedly, making her feel even more uneasy. Still it was good to have someone with the opposite eyes she did to teach her. Sharringan aside, he was the only one she knew with the Gaze.

"Good. I trust your mission went well?"

"Yes, it did, thank you. I don't think I would have made it out alive if you hadn't come and stopped the three from escaping. I really owe it all to you." He ignored her thanks. He was so distant… It was clear this wasn't a guy she could let her guard down to.

"The organization doesn't really see eye to eye with the sound village either. Do you know why?"

"Yes I heard that he left right before... never mind." Maia totally ruined it. She had promised herself she wouldn't bring up the massacre; it was probably the last thing to start asking about. He stared off into the distance again.

"There's a lot you have to tell me. I want to know everything that's happened since your mission regarding your talks with Sasuke and the elders."

Maia began recounting the events of recent and the few conversations she had with his brother, how he had told her his identity as an avenger and his need for more power. She had sensed he was thinking of leaving, but wasn't expecting him to depart so soon. Itachi told her he had listened to the entire dialogue which gave him time to plan. Maia had let him leave as planned and then went directly to the elders who had let her live. When she had finished her stories he nodded, satisfied. Everything had gone according to plan and she had done everything he had instructed her to and then some.

"Was Danzo there at the meeting?"

"He came in when they invited him. I got a very dark impression off of him. I think he's a horrible man. Why?" Maia mentally slapped herself for being so honest with him. Where had her social graces gone? He inwardly smirked.

"He was the man who had me complete the mission." Maia's face turned as if she had tasted something sour. He had taken everything from him. Hiding her sudden turbulent emotions, she tried to lighten herself up.

"He tried to kill me for having learned the truth."

"Why didn't he?"

"Oddly enough, he couldn't same as you." Itachi looked into her intensely once more, trying to figure out the reason he was unable to take the life of the girl no matter how hard he had tried. Maia smiled gently, making a mental note to tell him later. With the news transferred, it was time for him to teach her.

"We'll start out just by testing your skills. That will show me where you need to improve. What do you excel in?"

"I'm pretty even right now, though I suppose my taijutsu is still a little lacking."

"We'll train you with that later. You should work on that within the leaf village. What I need to examine first is… your eyes. They aren't normal."

"No they're not." The girl gave a knowing smile, acknowledging they were the same in that respect. While hers were opened to her soul, his were closed tight shut.

"I want you to come at me with all the skill that you do have." That was easy enough. Maia had done the same thing with Kakashi time and time again. But this was a true heir of the sharringan... he would pummel her to dust if he wanted to.

"Wait a minute… there's no way to win against a true wielder of the sharringan one on one."

"I won't use my sharringan against you." You nodded, relived. "Start."

It took her a very long time to even hit him once. They were both quite adaptable and worked harmoniously together... it was like while he was anticipating her moves a mental link formed, allowing her to follow his train of thought and match his movements. Maia used a number of clones and water jutsu and actually when he lashed out at her with a weapon, she succeeded in making his eyes widen slightly when she surprised him with her mental guard. His kunai was held in place once more by the invisible barrier leaving him to think of another way to hit her. He moved fast and in a graceful manner. He was toying with her with greater ease than even Kakashi had. Maia finally succeeded in pinning him a couple of times only to find he was either using a clone or genjutsu reflections over and over again. It was really frustrating- he was fighting with almost laughable ease. They were were each confident fighters but fighting hardly took a toll on him. After a while he stopped her and she fell to the ground gasping for air. He looked down at you her with little concern.

"We have similar fighting styles. And you can take water out of the ground and atmosphere? Impressive, not to mention the way you blocked my attacks... you must have very special jutsu... what is it called?"

"Actually, I don't really know if it's a jutsu at all- when I use it I don't lose any chakra- it just disrupts the flow for a second and then I get a headache. I always thought it was part of my eye condition or pure mental energy..." He wouldn't believe her yet if she told him there was a man in her mind. For now, it was best to keep that secret.

"Peculiar. Let's go sit down." They took a break sitting in the grass overlooking a lake. For a while both stared in into the distance lost in thought. Itachi was glad it had at least been a girl who was content with his silence that he was not able to kill. While they took the time to gather their thoughts Maia noticed he seemed to have been making up his mind. Finally, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"I have no idea where I'm from. I woke up in a clearing in the middle of the night a half year ago with nothing but my name and a purple ninja headband."

"Even the name Maia is foreign to me. It could be from a clan I've never heard of." It felt iscolating still to have no idea most of her history. Her entire family might want her back or thought she had died, if she had one at all. Then again, it might have been them who had left her in the field.

"Itachi?" He turned to her, sensing the urgency in her voice. What if he could help her find her lost identity? He could be the missing link she needed.

"Hm?"

"I have to ask you an important question. It's about the fact you weren't able to kill me on that day. I talked to the elders about it when they asked how I survived and they told each other it had to do with Hashirama's curse. Is there anything you've heard about that?" He looked down in thought.

"No. I've never heard of the curse. Though I would guess it has something to do with the way he was pitted against the Uchiha, wanting to protect his own clansmen. Maybe you have some Senju in you."

"I would be from the land of Fire, then?"

"It's a possibility. I'll have a look into it, for my own reasons." He would look into Hashirama's curse for her? He wasn't the kind of person to concern himself with the affairs of others, it must have wanted to put a stop to it.

"Thank you. I'll look into it too-" Itachi stopped her.

"No. I'll look into it." His tone was cold once more. He wanted to do things alone.

"Oh.. okay…" His guard never let down for a moment through their entire time together. He reminded her to not let hers down either.

Then the topic changed to her ninja experiences.

"How is it that you met my brother Sasuke? He's much younger than you.

Maia told him how they had left her with squad seven temporarily because it was Kakashi who had found her in the field and they had nowhere else to place her. He sensed a flaw in this logic on the part of the Hokage, however he made no remarks.

"So you trained with my brother. He's doing well?" That was when for the first time she saw for the first time the light that shown in his eyes. She smiled at the recognition.

"Yes, he's the best in his class at least. We're pretty evenly matched. His sharringan can see though the first three jutsu. And he's very good on his feet."

"How long would it take me to kill him if we were fighting right here?"

"I guess about... three minutes? It depends on the dialogue." He let out a soft sigh. Hard to read. Maia thought of the man next to her in retrospect. He had been hailed as the genius of his clan and the village, only to have sacrificed everything that ever mattered for the village that would not understand him.H Had he turned colder? Or had he always been this way? The pain he must have felt, still was feeling, must be unbearable. Maia felt the pain he held inside himself gently seep into her empathically. They continued staring into the distance in silence. He was content to let her near him, yet his eyes never softened, nor did he open up.

When the sun began to set and turn the sky hues of magenta and orange he excused himself.

"I have to go. If I'm here much longer my leader will get suspicious. You should leave too. It's too a high risk of you being found out." Maia nodded. He turned but the girl held him a moment more out of the curiosity she had held inside.

"Itachi?" He turned and she hesitated. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to touch on the matter. He was tolerant of her. "Why did you agree to teach me? If you didn't want to, you didn't have to. Why would you even trouble yourself over the likes of me?"

"I need to find out the reason why I wasn't able to kill you. If you were to be killed or taken hostage by enemy ninja, they could take your memories of me. It's for my own benefit." Maia nodded and smiled.

"Thank you."

"I will send word for you when I need you next, near the end of the month." Without wasting any more words he leapt off into the trees, disappearing. Maia was left in silence. She got up and looked at the sunsetting sky one last time, feeling the hint of a smile form on her lips.

"He might be the most guarded man I've ever met, but perhaps he can help me find the truth to why I'm here."

Next time: First Mission with Kakashi! If Maia thought the Copy Ninja had been giving little signs the day before, he'll certainly be giving larger hints in the next chapter!


	14. First Mission with Kakashi Hatake

Warm sunlight from the window shone down onto her as she stretched and got out of bed. Nearby a morning dove greeted the new day. Once more, her thoughts turned as they often did of how Sasuke had left the village and what spot her life was in now. Sasuke had been her friend in a little way, broody and melancholy as he was, she understood how it felt to be in his shoes, with no family, seeking to learn and achieve her heights but feeling as if they could not if she wanted to stay with the rest of the group.

Yes, she too had sought another way to grow. To be free. How ironic it was that her way was to seek out the very man he sought out to avenge. Not only this but the brother who had killed his entire family and was now her friend had also hurt the man in her heart. He had tortured Kakashi. Torn was the best word to describe her life now. Torn and mute. Maia knew she could never tell anyone in the village what was on her mind, not ever if she wanted to call this place home. _I have to take a break from this heavy thinking; it's not healthy. _It was her day off, and to lighten herself up, she decided it would be a good idea to go into town to do some errands. That would take her mind off her life.

Walking downtown with groceries in hand, the young woman's heart leapt when she saw Kakashi Hatake walking past. He was looking right at her! Smiling sheepishly she decided to go deeper into down in hopes of evading him. _'No way. This is too much of a coincidence that this happened twice.' _There was a blue notebook in the store beside her that called out to her so she went to buy it along with a nice new novel. When the introverted kunoichi left the store, she decided to start it right away so she made herself comfortable on a bench next to the building and turned to the first page. But when she looked to the right, who did she see standing against the building to the side of her? Hatake once more. He was standing there with his face buried in his own orange novel. Maia decided he must be doing this on purpose this time. Excited and uneasy, she turned to walk even deeper into down. At this point the girl had no idea what she was doing; the only thing on her mind was the mysterious grey haired jounin.

The Ichiraku Ramen Shop was nearby straight ahead so she decided you'd go eat lunch there then head home. Ayame could have been working; the girl that never seemed to get along with her for unknown reasons, but it felt like a good idea to go anyways because it was more comfortable to sit in one confined place than to walk through the streets having no idea when the hot ninja would have spotted her again. The girl sat down and ordered her noodles vegetarian. Teuchi the ramen man gave his friendly smile and commented on the odd lack of meat, then told her the price. She pulled out her wallet while preparing to explain the long story of her interesting food choices but was cut short. Instantly, the girl had a freakout and nearly spilled all her noodles as she heard a warm and familiar voice immediately next to her.

"That will be on me." It was of course the grey haired copy-cat ninja. The young woman yelled out unexpectedly but just as quickly she calmed herself, trying her best to put on her normal friendly air. He was so suave…

"It's- no wait you don't have to do that!"

"It's no problem, I wanted to."

"Well then that's very generous of you. Thank you." He sat down next to her, ordering a bowl for himself. Teuchi turned to make more.

"I'll throw in an extra egg for both of you too." He winked at her from out the corner of her vision. Maia lightly blushed and thanked him again.

"What are you doing here?" she turned to ask him.

"Well I had been walking to Lady Tsunade when I thought to myself how I needed to tell you a little information from the latest mission." His voice lulled lazily as usual. He wanted to eat with her- the idea felt subtly intimate to her. He told her how while he had been in the hospital recovering from his fight with Itachi he listened in and discovered that the escapees had been recaptured and the documents returned as well as a few papers of information on the organization they had come from. Then he thanked her for helping with her ninjutsu. Teuchi then brought his food. While she ate she realizing the intent gaze of Teuchi on Kakashi as well as blushing Ayame. He continued with her however, not touching his food. "That genjutsu was very unique and well executed. I can honestly say we were very impressed with your performance." His eyes closed into smiles. Maia hid another blush by hiding her face under the locks of her long hair.

"It was nothing really." The girl turned to make eye contact with him, only to find in astonishment that he had finished his noodles. _How can he do that? When did he do that?_ She looked at the other two but they were disappointed to have missed it too, having turned themselves around to make food. Maia tried to hide the wonder on her face.

"That brings me to my next matter. That genjutsu I've heard much about is the exact thing I need on my next mission. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me. I'm going to the nearest village outpost to gather information on a man named Raichi who is linked with a few missing nin. He has a valuable crystal with him that we need to investigate as well. We have reason to suspect it's not his and he's using it as a threat. It's not a very tough mission but it might give us time to get to know each other as colleagues. If you would rather not come with me, that's fine."

Maia couldn't even believe her ears. Had he just asked her on a mission that was more than a mission? It had been him more than a year ago who had found her in the clearing with nothing. It had been him who had carried her in his arms to the hospital. It had been him who had invited her into his team until she was assigned her new job. Only a few months ago she was taking the bell test with him as her temporary teacher and now he wanted to take her on a mission with him! Maia tried to hide it but her heart was brimming with excitement.

"I think it would be a lovely idea." His eyes gave that smile again.

"Great to hear. It would be best if we met up shortly after you get your ninja gear. Meet me at one near the entrance like last time." She nodded and asked Teuchi to put the rest of her ramen in a to go bowl and tipped him. Then the two of them headed off.

"I'll meet you in half an hour!" the girl waved to him with a smile and he waved back.

Kakashi POV: That wave… even their hand motions are the same. I wonder…

Excited, Maia met the copy ninja waiting on a nearby bench with his novel in hand. However, she noticed when she called out to him, he closed it and set it in his pocket. _That novel he can never put down… I wonder if he's been doing that to me for a while and I haven't noticed it. It's most likely he does that with everyone though, right? _They smiled and walked together towards the entrance. When they headed out, she had an idea.

"Oh wait a minute, I thought ninja squads were always broken up into groups of three?"

"Well technically, that is true. In higher rank missions, it doesn't always work that way. I was going to go alone but I thought I'd like to have you with me." She blushed again. He was taking her over the higher rank jounin to get to know her. _What if I'm not good enough to be working with him? He's one of the leaf's best shinobi and I was just found here a year ago and made chuunin. I'm nothing. _Little did she know, he was thinking she could be his everything.

* * *

The two ninja wordlessly headed out into the forest. Little conversation ensued. Her head felt light and her heart giddy with him walking next to her. He watched her calmly out of the corner of his gaze, silently appreciating the grace with which she walked, the neatness of her long hair, those _eyes. _What was with her eyes? There was something inside them he wanted to understand. She looked up at the trees happily. To his surprise, she began humming a light melody. He listened intently to the weaving notes, the forest seemed to come more alive with it. _Maybe it's just me. I need to have my head focused on my goal. Though now… I have two goals._

"You have a nice voice," he commented.

"Thank you." She smiled. "I've loved to sing ever since I can remember… even though it hasn't been long. I normally only sing when I'm by myself, but today I just felt like humming." The young woman turned back to look at him with that happy face he was transfixed with. Her smile really was like…. No. It was impossible. He had told himself that.

"Have you been able to recall anything else since that day? It was more than a year ago, wasn't it?"

"No, I haven't." The girl looked away now, eyes downturned, contemplative. "I've tried every week, by meditating. Mr. Yamanaka and Ibiki told me that if I wanted to regain them, it might be possible if I meditated. They're in my subconscious mind, I just have to unlock them…"

"We'll I certainly hope you do find them.. I would be interested to hear what happened." He tried to remain as neutral and friendly as possible, withholding his evident curiosity in the young woman. Her voice became even more gentle, as if almost talking to herself.

"I hope I find them too… when I find them, I want to tell you first."

"Hm? Why me?" He wasn't significant to her life, they had only just begun working together. Maia felt a little smile forming on her lips. Hushed, she lowered her head again, looking back on her first memories.

"Have you forgotten? You were the one that found me… on that day." He looked back to the time when he found her hurt in the woods, how he carried her in his arms to the hospital.

"I never forgot that day." Maia hid her blush behind the locks of her hair. They walked in silence for a moment more. It was easy walking, not needing to say much of anything. He continued to look at her, however, as if for some clue.

Kakashi POV: _What is inside her that is so important to me?_

Maia POV: _'It has to be in my head. He would never look to me as much of anything. He just wants to get to know me. _Eventually, she became more comfortable with this idea.

**I like him, this Hatake. I'm not going to get in the way for now.** The man in her mind made his first appearance of the week. She pushed him away fearlessly.

_Oh shut it, you. I'm happy with him so thank you for not ruining it. _He humored her and left. It was nice and lucky really... for some reason when she walked with Hatake, Maia wasn't nearly as afraid.

"What of you? I haven't heard much of what you like than what you told the three gennin all that time ago, which wasn't much of anything." He leaned his head to the side and shrugged.

"Oh me? I'm hardly worth mentioning." That made her grin.

"Very well then, I guess we'll just have to be elusive to one another." He chuckled.

"I guess so." He walked next to her for the next hour, continuing to tug on the mystery of the woman from time to time. Nothing much was sighted for that time until There in the distance, the outpost appeared in view. It was a simple, run down group of cabins and shops, modest and inconspicuous. Exactly the place to gather information. He instructed her on the methods he wanted them to use in gathering intel on the man and the crystal they had come to investigate. They were to split up for a few hours to talk to the people who lived here, then reconvene later where they would share everything they learned. They waved each other a temporary goodbye and headed off in opposite directions.

* * *

Maia walked into town, not sure who to talk to first. It made her nervous to talk to those she didn't know, outgoing was not her forte. However, she reassured herself they were all perfectly friendly. In an hour, three had given her information. The man Riuchi had come from this village according to one older ninja, had left for a few years and then returned not too long ago to live his life in peace here. The second was a woman who told her he indeed had a valuable crystal with him that was in some way how he made his living. The third had been very unwilling to give his bit of information. It was only after Maia used her harmless innocent appearance, along with a bribe, that he agreed to tell her. The man was living in a humble cottage in the nearby forest to the east. He would most likely be headed out soon, so she figured she would head over to him to observe before she reported to Kakashi within the hour.

Maia walked through the forest, thinking to herself what the mysterious gray haired leaf jounin was hiding from her and his genin. He never told her much about him and she wanted to know more. Like for instance… why he looked at her the way he did… what he looked like underneath his mask… she wanted to understand how often thoughts of him swam through her head… how easily he could make her blush.

Then out of nowhere, three ninja came out of the trees half translucent. They shouted out at her with fierce expressions, each bearing large weapons.

"I never sensed their energy because their state of matter changed!" She thought, nervously bracing herself to fight. Her nerves tensed and eyes narrowed in thought. There was no way to evade them, nor to take them all at once. The long haired kunoichi closed her eyes, wishing there was a teammate who could help her. He was far away… not only that, she would make a huge fool of herself if she lost to them. She was a fool for getting herself in trouble in the first place. "_This is it, I should have gone to meet him instead of walking into this mess…"_ she thought, they were almost upon her with a mighty blow. Maia opened her arms to yell out using the last of her chakra in a musical attack thinking she was going to lose her life!

What happens next? To be continued shortly!


	15. I Will Protect You

Recap: Kakashi and Maia went on a mission to investigate about a man who owned a powerful and unique chakra crystal that contained a powerful ninjutsu. While headed towards the man's house, she was ambushed from within the trees. Kakashi was investigating still, leaving the girl to try and fight them off by herself.

Maia fought using the ninjutsu in her arsenal for as best she could. They wore grey armor and explained they were from the land of Tool, meaning their fighting techniques were backed by new equipment that made them first man had a weapon that closely resembled a large sword that when swung, let off bursts of glowing green, semi- solidified chakra. The second could use medicine pills to use a few techniques from most elements. The third was physically the strongest and possessed a shield that had a force-field that could protect his comrades one at a time. They explained they wanted the chakra crystal in the house she had been headed to to add to their artillery.

Through trial and error she found the man with the force field made it increasingly difficult to use ninjutsu or genjutsu against the other two. However, he had a ten second interval before he could use it again. The man with the elemental pills lacked water, making her lucky. However, his earth style didn't help. The first man wasn't too hard to dodge, but she exhausted quickly when not able to stand still. The girl tried to be brave and threw everything she had at them, but wasn't experienced enough to hold them off. It didn't take long for it to be apparent that the three of them were well beyond a match for her. The young woman tried using taijutsu too. However, after a while she decided it would be better to just shield herself in fear of breaking a frail leg or something. Ninjutsu was her greatest ally and Taijutsu was never her strong point. Though she tried her hardest to fight them, clearly the girl was at a huge disadvantage.

The enemies were coming near her once more with weapons outstretched. She was had one last trick up her sleeve, though it would be the last of her chakra There was the musical genjutsu, the move that got her a name with the jounin in the first place, but to use it would certainly end her life. They each were very powerful, more powerful than the likes of anything she had encountered before. As they came at her from in the air she braced herself in her fighting stance. This might be the last thing she did in life, but that didn't mean she would go down in history without standing up for the home she loved.

"I just wish I could have had more time…" Maia thought to herself. The man with the elemental medicine lunged at her from in the air, throwing his chakra infused kunai at her head, moving too fast for her to dodge. The girl closed her eyes. And then…

Clank.

What was that? The young woman opened her eyes to a familiar green ninja vest and grey spikey hair. It was him.

"Maia. I've got them. Stay back."

"But you'll-" His eyes grew stern, like he meant it. His voice was close to tender.

"I made a promise that I would protect the people of this village. I will protect you." The girl gasped.

"Kakashi…" With those words, the little switch in her heart had changed from a crush to something much bigger. It was time to stop hiding it. In that moment, she began to slowly fall in love with him.

"Get back!"

The enemy ninja were upon him. Immediately obeying his orders the young woman leaned back, dodging a second kunai, which embedded itself into the tree behind her just over her head. Leaning against a tree, her mind went hazy. Her energy was gone. Unaware of what was going on around her, her body swayed from side to side. Then she fell over hitting her head on the tree unconscious. Everything faded into blackness.

"Maia." Her vision blurred back into the light. She found herself with his arms wrapped around her. Kakashi had been hovering over her, holding her upper half while she lay on the ground. Hiding a blush to the fact he had brought them closer, Maia let a moan escape her mouth when she realized there had been a little gash in her right side. _That must have been why I passed out, _she thought. Might have been blood loss or over-exhaustion."

"Kakashi… How did I… what happened?"

"I got them all. Everything's finished."

"Oh…" It felt bad to think that her foolish mistake led him to have to take care of the enemies all by himself while she had just fallen unconscious like the last time. Then his voice grew stern toward her.

"Maia, you should never let that happen again," he scolded. "I told you to come back to me when you found the location of the man. I wasn't that far away but if I hadn't had the feeling you were in trouble, this would have been the end for you."

"I won't do it again. I wanted to gather the last piece of information because I thought I had enough time to report back. I'm truly sorry…" He continued to look down to her, but his stern expression softened. Finally his eyes went into smiles.

"When I got the feeling you were in trouble I came in to find you fighting. I might have watched for a minute before I stepped in. I was impressed with how much you've learned." The girl smiled back, instilling that warm fuzzy feeling he was so unused to with women. The girl then healed herself using the mystic palm technique. His eyes widened at the seafoam light emanating from her hand.

"…You.. you learned medical ninjutsu?"

"I thought it would come in handy." Her pun went unnoticed, for the man was thinking back to his early years… When Maia finished with her healing, the two got up once more. He explained the intel he had gathered. The man had used his life force to program the crystal to do his bidding, turning rocks into gold, and even producing it's own ninjutsu, thus making him wealthy. They had found much the same information, leading them here.

"The cottage isn't far from here. Most likely he heard the fight and might be leaving soon. Shouldn't we get to the man immediately in case he tries to escape?" the girl looked behind her, then to Kakashi.

"I was thinking the same thing. We need to be cautious and get inside without being discovered. How good are you at moving almost invisibly?"

"I can do it." They walked a mile to the large cabin of the man who had stolen the unique chakra crystal. It was huge most likely because of the wealth he had gathered using the chakra's abilities. They had no idea what it was capable of, however. The two ninja had crept up on the elderly criminal without any noise whatsoever. The man had placed wards around the entire place, notifying him that they had entered. They swooped in to grab the treasure which had been carelessly mounted on his table, and both threw smoke bombs to hinder the old ninja's sight. Kakashi pocketed the crystal, which had been small, blue mixed with sea foam green and swirly, then they cornered the man together. His eyes were wide. What the man said left in Maia's memory for a long time.

"It's you…" he pointed to the girl. "I wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you. I wouldn't even be here, if it wasn't for you."

"Her? What are you talking about?"

"I never forget what happened that day, I'll never let go of that memory." The girl's heart leapt. Was this a part of her lost past? He knew her?

"Wait! What memory?" The girl grabbed him, desperate for another piece of her lost identity, for truth and answers. "Tell me!" It was too late, he had already taken a poison and after a fit of coughing, the man fell to the ground dead. The girl tried putting her hand on his forehead to get answers from his mind in a process that Ibiki had taught him but the mans mind was gone in a blur. "We have to take him with us!"

"No Maia. He's gone. We have to leave him here." His less emotionally clouded judgement was correct though, they would never be able to get the memories back now that he was dead. It was evening now, and he decided to take her back towards Konoha.

The two ninja walked caught up in their own thoughts for a while.

"I'm sorry again for not coming back to you."

"We have what we came for… and it wasn't totally your fault. I miscalculated the difficulty of this mission. I failed to guess that there might have been stronger ninja as our enemies. I could have come up with a better plan. I never should have left you behind. I'm sorry." Your eyes went into smiles.

"No of course not! Don't be sorry. We could have had no idea they would be following us. This isn't typically a high danger area. If anything it was Lady Tsunade who labeled it a C rank mission that should take the blame."

"Well then next time I'll just have to remember to take you with me the entire time." He gave a smile which she returned, but she turned away hiding behind her hair because her cheeks flushed. He continued looking to her from the corner of his eye as they walked.

Kakashi Pov:

It was uncanny almost, the girl looked like his former comrade… the only difference was her hair. There were no marks on her cheeks but she had the same eyes and smile. They even had similar personalities. He thought then of what he had told her back there, and what she had said in response. His gut churned as his memory went to the worst day of his life… He had told Rin the exact same words. Not only that, what had gotten to him the most was how Maia miraculously said the exact same thing Rin had back. Of course this girl was different, and he had a different opinion of her too, but he wondered why had this girl come into his life like this? Who was she? End Kakashi POV

They walked in the quiet most of the way home until Maia finally confessed her feelings of what had happened with the man and the chakra crystal.

"May I look at it?" The girl held out her hand and he reached into his pouch to give it to her. The crystal was egg shaped and small compared to what she figured it would look like; her hand could almost wrap around its smooth edges. There were little intricate patterns looping through it that had a feint sea foam green glow. It had an energy that made her feel alive and healthy… immensely happy just to hold it. "I wonder who made it, if they intended to use it the way he did." Kakashi intuited her thoughts.

"You're wondering if it has anything to do with the reason why you're here." She smiled and nodded, but her face grew sad. She held her hands in front of her.

"It's hard you know, not having a family or the friends that fought beside you in the past. I wonder what it would be like having a family to go to, meeting the friends that I trusted with my life." The man looked at her for a long moment and then sighed. His voice was low.

"I know how that is… I'm the same way. My mother and father died when I was young and I lost my former comrades in the last war." Maia's eyes went wide. She inwardly gasped and she looked to him. He had gone through much the same hardships she was going through now. He must be going through them to this day. It felt wrong to talk to him about his past further now' his face was downturned and melancholy. It made her feel bad to see him so down, she wanted to help put him in a better mood so she smiled and lifted her hand to his arm. He looked to her to find the warmest kindest smile.

"I'm glad we can be thankful for the comrades we have now that help fill the empty spaces. I might not have a family here, I might have lost my old friends, I might not even understand where the heck I came from and why I'm here, but now this is my home. I think one of the reasons I love Konoha so much is because here, when I'm with my comrades, I don't feel as empty. There's a part of me that feels like I was meant to be here. Like I lived here before…" His eyes widened once more.

"What's that? You feel like you've lived here before?" She nodded and then shook her head.

"I know it's silly. Of course I could never have lived here, I'm new to the village. If I wasn't someone would have found me by now… forget I said anything." He would never forget that. It was the first hint to his own mystery.

They neared the village eventually when the sky had turned navy blue. Maia had been looking to the jounin who looked deep in thought. She presumed he was brooding over his miscalculation, which she felt bad for. She tried to hide the feelings she felt radiating off of her skin for the man. Her thoughts turned in other directions, since he had taken her in his arms… wondering if he had taken her in closer how his arms and his green vest would have felt against her, how his warm lips would fit against hers… That was enough. She needed to give herself a break. He had saved her because she wasn't up to his level yet. After all, she was just a chuunin and he was one of the most skilled ninja in the entire village. He was much higher up than her, while she didn't even know where her family was if she had one at all, or where she came from….

When they came to the village, he had them walk to the Hokage's House immediately to return the treasure to Lady Tsunade. Instead, the elders greeted them, to Maia quite respectfully once more, and told them the Hokage had left after having too much alcohol to drink. Instead they were the ones to lead Kakashi and Maia to the office. That was when the next clue to her life came. The two ninja entered the Hokage's Quarters and Maia handed Homorai the sea foam stone, hiding a strange sadness. It had made her feel warm and homey to have it in her hands...

"We have the treasure you requested I was to gather. The man had programmed it to react with his life force, producing unique ninjutsu. He's no longer a threat." The two elders nodded in approval of the Copy Nin, then Homorai handed it to the woman. The old lady looked into the glassy polished surface of the stone in contemplation. Then she inquired how the man had died. Maia clenched her fists.

"He took his own life, I feel horrible for that. The man told me... he had memories of me from somewhere. I have no idea what he meant but when I tried to ask him he swallowed poison. I tried going into his mind but it had already been greyed out." The woman's gave a small hint of a smile. "I wish I had the time to talk with him... to find my answers..." The elder clicked then edges of the crystal and then it happened:

The woman handed the stone to Maia.

"Wha- what is this for?"

"This belongs to you." Her voice raised with slight amusement. "It's yours." The notion that the warm happiness, the familiarity and even love she felt with the stone wasn't only her mind playing tricks, hit her like a mound of bricks.

"Wait what do you mean? It's not mine-" Kakashi voiced his concern as well. The girl must have never seen it before.

"There's no mistake. It's meant for you. The crystal has natural healing abilities as well as its own unique power. Take care of it, never lose it, and use it well." The girl felt lightheaded; however when the woman refused to explain, even weather it had anything to do with Hashirama's curse, which had been on her mind ever since her meeting with the elders three days prior, the two left in contemplation. This had certainly been an eventful day, and now she had one more hint to her past. Hatake looked confused, though as to exactly which part the girl was not sure. He walked her home and when she told him goodbye and he waved. He would later go home to turn over what he had learned about the girl that had haunted his mind over the last few months, filling it with curiosity and filling his heart with new warmth. He had a plan now, a new mission. He would find out the truth behind the young woman, who she was and why she made him feel the way he had never quite felt before. Not like this.


	16. Hold Me In Your Arms

New Chakra Crystal/ Kakashi Getting Closer

The next morning, Maia's first intention was to test the crystal's unique powers. The sea foam green stone glimmered in the sunlight on her bedside table where she had thoughtfully placed it. It felt like it had welcomed her up to the day. The girl grinned and took it, then hurried to the training fields.

There was no one in her vicinity, thankfully, which gave her time to explore without any new spectators. The girl took the stone out of her pouch, and held it up so it glistened in the sunlight. It truly did seem as if it had its own happiness to it. _What are you? What are you used for? Well whatever it is, it's time to experiment!_

Gathering her chakra, she felt the healing life force in the blue stone and tried to connect with that. No results, it was useless. After a few more tries, the girl used her own chakra to connect with the energy of the crystal- and then it happened, she felt the life in the rock thrumming through her body. _Maybe it's not that it does something by itself, it's an extension of my own jutsu. _The girl let out a high B, trying her music ninjutsu on nothing in particular. No effects. Not giving up, she took out a kunai, and that's when it happened.

When she swiped her weapon through the air, a stream of sea foam green, glistening chakra followed her hand. Gasping in excitement, she observed the ethereal mixture in its natural form. It flew off into the air a ways, then disappeared_. Maybe if I throw it? _When she hurled the kunai at a nearby tree, the energy trailed with her weapon to the tree, but when it hit with a hard thunk, there was no effect other than what would normally have happened. The energy left the kunai and trailed off. It was then when two more ninja entered the training area nearby. The young woman hid the thing in her pouch again with a shrug. _Well whatever it does, I haven't figured out yet. I'm sure it will be very useful, but I'll just take it with me to keep it safe, and hold off until later. _

It was noon, and the girl was left with her usual problem that once again, she was isolated in the village. _It's not their fault… I mean I'm new after all. I've been here a little more than a year and I'm weird. No one understands me, therefore it makes sense they have their groups and I'm not a part of them. It's not their fault for not liking me yet. Still, it would be nice if a few others welcomed me… _Neji and Tenten accepted her for the most part, even though they still looked at her with those eyes. The jounin were most likely on missions. Maybe Naruto would be a good little guy to have around, he always had that positive spirit, but he was with the younger genin and there was a maturity difference there. That as usual left her with no one to go to. In the end, she decided to go to her normal hang out place, Totaroki Park.

While feeding little bits of bread crums to the geese, Maia took out the crystal once more, to find that when she concentrated her chakra into the stone, it infused with the energy of the crystal, making it emit it's green light, tingling her hand. _How interesting… _The girl took out her notebook, filled with creative inspiration to write what she had found, when she was taken by surprise by a familiar visitor. It was the Copy Ninja of course.

"Hi there," he waved, greeting her with his easy-going voice. The girl gasped and instantly hid her crystal in her pouch.

"Oh hello, how are you doing, Kakashi-san?" she said, heart thrumming.

"Walking the path of life," his eyes smiled and his new philosophical saying made her laugh. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me on a new mission. I've seen your taijutsu needs work and I thought this would help bring you up to par with the jounin." _Wow, he just had to bring up my weakness._ She thought. He always had that inner perfectionist in him. _It's good though to have someone be critical of my weaknesses. That way I'll have room to improve. _The girl put in a nice smile to him.

"I would love to come and thank you for your help." ^_^

* * *

When they met up near the village entrance like before he explained that the mission was to guard a man named Raichi, who had with him fifty valuable gold pieces. He was to transport them to his town which was very poor, hoping that they would not only help feed his family but help to make a better future for his home. The way they would take to his village wasn't long, but there were thieves who had been targeting him.

"This mission sounds like Anko or even Asuma would be better for it than me."

"It's true, they might be jounin while you're a chuunin, I thought it would be good to have you with me." He gave a sweet smile, making the girl hide her blush once more. He walked closer to her now, which both made her heart beat faster with excitement and gave her nervous butterflies. To break her nerves, she flung an arm out in front, gesturing to the trees.

"I was thinking… what if we had leaves on our arms and legs and we could swallow the sun? Wouldn't that be nice?" he scratched his head. True enough she was more unique than any of the women he had met from the village.

"What in the?"

"It would make it easier to go on long distance missions, or fighting long term battles, wouldn't it?" Though he might not understand her head, it certainly made him think things he never would have before. Who knew? There could have been a jutsu invented like that.

"Well it would certainly help me never take off my mask." That made her laugh, He watched as her eyes squinted in a grin. It made him feel warm. "You look cute when you laugh too." _Ugh, Will I constantly need to hide my face underneath my hair like this? He's so… irresistible._

His arm brushed against hers. He felt her tense up for a moment, then look to him, though he felt it was safest to look ahead, pretending he hadn't done it on purpose. Eventually her back relaxed, and he moved a little closer. He marveled silently how her hair gave off the pleasant aroma of vanilla and something else he couldn't name. For a minute he mulled over what it might be, then scolded himself for his thoughts.

It felt happy to have a man she could connect with, even if she wasn't sure if he shared her feelings. Luckily, the path was clear and no one followed them. They made the old man Raichi feel comfortable and talked with him too. He was nice though his voice was gruff, making him hard to understand. He told them he had three children at home he was excited to see again, he had missed them after not being able to talk to his family for months. Maia ensured him he would meet them in no time. The mission went by in no time. That is, until after they had gotten Raichi to his town. After waving a farewell to the man, the two left to head home together. Maia got an uneasy feeling that there was something left unfinished.

"I'm glad the mission was no trouble but still, I feel like we're missing something." The Copy Ninja sighed.

"Me too. Something doesn't feel right." The girl widened her sensory abilities around her as far as she could until she found it. There were three new presences near the man.

"Kakashi, please we have to go back to him! He's in trouble!" _If they were close to him, we have to get there fast or he'll never be able to see his children! She thought._ His face went stern and he grabbed her hand.

"I'm on it, follow me. We'll hide and ambush them before they can do any harm."

They found the men just as they were going to kill Raichi. The fighting went smoothly; they were outnumbered by one but higher level than the thieves. Maia used her water ninjutsu and Kakashi used his lightning styled chidori. The thieves were defeated in no time, only mere rouge ninja who were most likely genin. He tied them up and handed them over to the authorities in the town, and had them put in the town jail.

"Thank you so much for saving my life. We owe you a great deal." Raichi waved as they headed out. Maia waved with a grin too.

"We were glad to help, I could have never let myself not let you see your children! Tell them we give them our best wishes!" With that they left. Everything had gone smoothly, and they leapt into the trees to make it home. Maia thought of how easily the two of them had worked together, and how easily he had made her blush once more. He was so calm and suave… an hour into travel, Maia tripped on her side. Somehow, the weak-boned girl had hurt herself in the fight. The jounin halted in his tracks to come check up on the condition of his companion.

"What happened?"

"It must have been when I was fighting with one of the men. I have no idea how… I'm such a clutz." He chuckled.

"Well then…" he smiled scooped her into his arms. "It looks like I'm just going to have to carry you." The girl gasped and blushed as he took her into his chest bridal style, and proceeded to move through the trees. _This is exactly like the first time we met… the very first night he found me in the clearing. _He moved gracefully though the tree cover, holding the woman in his arms, close enough that the vanilla scent of her hair lightly fell on his nose. He found it lovely. The girl put one slender hand on his shoulder to ensure she didn't fall out of his hold. His ninja vest moved up and down her side as he leapt from tree to tree. The man looked down to her, giving her a reassuring smile. He had remembered their first meeting too. With the way he was moving, Maia had no choice but to rest her head against his chest. It was warm.

Kakashi POV: Look how much has changed in my eyes since then. Who knows? Maybe this was how it was meant to be. I can hardly process the how much this girl makes me feel like new.

"Well the mission was a success, however, there is still that little issue with taijtsu. You did very well, Maia, but if you don't train in taijutsu, it will be hard to get to the level of jounin. I think you'll get there one day, but it's going to take work.

"I think I will in time if I continue my training… I feel like I learned taijutsu more easily when I'm fighting enemies because I normally practice on my own. It makes it more real when I'm not hitting logs."

"I'd be happy to help with that. I could help you train when I'm done with team seven's weekly exercise on Wednesdays." She nodded her head.

"I would like that, thank you. ^_^" Letting her heartbeat quicken, he took her back to the village thinking she was the luckiest girl. He took her to the village, though he seemed to be occupied with his thoughts.

Kakashi POV: I completed the second part of my 'mission'. This mission has led me to the same conclusion as the first. It seems ridiculous but everything that happens makes it seem to be the case: Maia is like Rin. It might not be that clear, but I think they're connected somehow. I don't know what it is, but there's something inside her… I like her as she is of course, but it messes me up on the inside to think the two might be linked. Now begins phase three of my mission. I need more time to look into her. I'm not letting this go!


	17. Invitation, The Elemental Circle

-Little note for my readers-

I have one or two more chapters until we get to the first lemon! Lemons will be posted as separate chapters so if you want to skip, it won't hurt the plot or anything. That way everyone gets what they want. Most of my story completely plotted out and much of it written, though unedited and unposted. I'm writing my third or fourth lemon and I'm not kidding you, it's over 8 pages long and not even finished. Umm yeah I'm nuts.

While looking up info on Kakashi, I found out something that I'm not sure most people know. Remember that scene where they went into his room cause we was unconscious? Then Sasuke came in to find Itachi was in the village? THAT ROOM IS HIS HOUSE. The door that Sasuke came in through is the front door, meaning he's either living in a sort of dorm, or living in his first house and hasn't moved out. Isn't that interesting? The author points out that jounin make a lot on missions, which leaves us wondering why the heck he lives in one room. He has a plant also, his name is Uke, and it's the name of Masashi Kishimoto's plant, looking identical to the one he owns. I guess you might have known that, but I just found out.

In any case I also wanted to vent about the most recent undubbed episodes. I'm totally geeking out about them because Itachi's revealing his personality that I always knew he had deep down inside, and Kabuto is using the jutsu that I WROTE ABOUT IN THE INTRODUCTION OF THIS VERY FANFICTION. Like it looks exactly how I pictured the yang side of the yinyang jutsu I wrote about THAT HE LEARNED. Okay, I'm done geeking for now.

Let's move into the next chapter!

* * *

Maia arrived home three days later to find a note tied to her door with a thick metal chain with a spikey ball hanging from the end of it. Examining the paper to find it was from Anko, the young woman went about untying the intimidating and crude message. It was a letter:

...

Hey Maggot. We're inviting you to a little get together, the jounin and I. There's this picnic we're having this afternoon, we voted you in on it. That means that me, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai have to tell you some important news. 2:00 PM. Himawari Field. You'd better be there. Make food, it's a potluck! I'm bringing my dumplings.

P.S. I'm giving you heads up, your man Kakashi will be there too. That's right, girly, I'd wager you guys are going to be a thing. He wanted to tell you something. I have a feeling what it might be ;)

See you later, squirt!

The note was signed her name, with a little snake next to it.

...

Maia felt her heart leap within her chest with excitement as she read the note over once more. He wanted to tell her something. Whatever the case, it was time to prepare. Making her way inside, she figured she wanted to hang out with her friend Anko more, but wanted to avoid any weird conflict with Kurenai until things were smoothed over. _It was awfully nice of them to invite me to their get together, when I've hardly worked with them. Maybe this will give a place I belong, friends within the village. _

"He likes you, Maia. He always looks like that with a girl he likes."

The words of Gai echoed teasingly through her mind. This entire week had tested her nerves, though now, more and more, she found those words to maybe be true. The get together was happening in a few hours, and Maia made her meal thinking of the man who had given her too many hints for her to ignore. No doubt she was different than the others to him; he had taken time out of his days to be with her, heck, he had held her in his arms with no need to.

Her heart leapt once more at the idea that he might share her feelings. He was so aloof, suave and mysterious. She wondered if he had many girlfriends in his past with how he looked, certainly there were many who wanted him. How many had he taken his mask off for? For the millionth time, she fantasized about his protective arms, his warm, lazy voice, enjoyed the memory of how it felt to be held by him. How had he felt when he had taken her in his embrace? She openly blushed, thinking how it would feel if he had put his face so close to hers, then he kissed her? How would his body feel against hers? Wouldn't it be lovely if he were hers and she was his?

It was time to stop fantasizing, for now. The meeting was in a little while. The girl packed up her meal and headed out to meet the jounin.

Half an hour later, Maia approached Asuma, Kurenai, Anko who greeted her with open arms. Then the man in her heart waved, he was lying on his back on the picnic blanket. Kakashi's face had been hiding inside his book, though when he greated her, he put the novel away. _I wonder what's in that novel? _She thought.

"Hey little Maggot! Glad to see you came!" ^_^ The young woman walked over to them.

"I brought Onigiri and sushi." she smiled and set them down on the picnic blanket, then taking of the wrapping on both dishes.

"Oh look at that they have customized flowers in them! That's so great thank you!" Maia had customized the sushi so the ingredients inside were in the shape of little flowers. It was the artistic way she liked to make them.

"Oh wow," said Asuma.

"How clever," said Kakashi.

"It was my pleasure." The girl smiled politely.

"Hey where's Gai?" Kakashi wondered from inside his novel.

"Running late. He had to finish up with teaching his students before they went off on a mission. He'll be- oh speak of the devil." He had walked up behind Anko.

"Hey guys! What's crackin?" He made a thumbs up.

"Nothing much, Maia just came a minute ago. We've been hanging out."

"Maia Nishikawa. It is nice to meet you once again." He did the teeth shiny thing to her. The girl smiled politely. He sat down.

They continued talking, mostly about their experiences as team leaders and about missions. Maia pitched in when she could but mostly thought it best to listen and learn. It felt a little awkward at times to be with higher class jounin, but they made her feel comfortable. Maia tried to fit into the friendship dynamic already set up, however being iscolated for so long from everyone aside from the Copy Ninja. Eventually, Anko's loud laughter and Asuma's constant teasing helped her feel more integrated into the group. They all talked and laughed and ate a lot. Her gaze occasionally drifted over to Kakashi but she found it easier to pretend he wasn't even there in the first place.

When the two focuses of their meeting were out of earshot, Gai pulled Anko to the side and they whispered to each other:

"Hey, I was wondering... has Kakashi _mentioned _anything to you regarding Maia? Like anything _extra_ compared to what you might normally talk about with you?" The woman hid her snakelike sneer from the others view with her hand. The man nodded, scrunching up his chin in consideration.

"He has mentioned her more than he normally would other women... he had this look in his eyes last time I saw him talk with her. He's so cool though, it's hard to tell. As a matter of fact, it might have just been my imagination. Has Maia talked about him with you?"

"Not lately, though there was this time he invited her to train with him. I never forget that face, and she had this extra glow to her, even more than her normal happy self. It was fishy. I wonder..."

"I'm no expert in love, but I do know Kakashi more than most. I think he has his eye on her, to say the least."

"I wonder what he might be thinking while he's reading that _novel_." She had never taken to Kakashi as much as the others had; his aloof attitude had struck her as shallow and there had never been chemistry between the two. It was one thing to be perverted, another to read about it in public. "Maia had better watch herself, though I've found she's mature enough to handle it. They would go well together." Gai seemed to look distraught to the idea. Anko smirked. Now they had to tell her their own little news.

Eventually, the girl started noticing Anko was winking at her. Had she been looking at Hatake too much? Then the looks transferred from her to Asuma and Kurenai. They tried to get to Gai but of course he was too oblivious to notice them.

"Listen up, maggot! We have something to tell you!" Anko slammed her hand onto the picnic blanket.

"Oh? What's up?" had she done something wrong?

"We want you in our little circle!" she inwardly exhaled a sigh of relief.

"What? What do you mean?"

"It means we think you're a splendid ninja, and with a majority vote, we decided you would make a great addition to our little group," Gai explained.

"I'd love to!" She was very happy to be included. It was nice to have a group to go to.

"Furthermore, if you're with us, it will have completed our circle of the elements. We had noticed a year or two ago how each of us had a different chakra type. If your chakra has a water nature, you would be the final piece."

"Oh yeah, she is water natured." Kakashi remembered.

"What exactly is the elemental circle for?

"Nothing really," Asuma said. "Except that if in the event the Hokage needed two teams of three to complete a mission, we would have all six pieces to complete our full elemental jutsu. In essence, there's this jutsu Kurenai found in which we would combine each person's chakra nature to form an incredibly powerful attack. That and we would be able to counter all types of chakra. It's not invincible of course, but it's very strong because we launch all of our attacks at once."

"I see. It sounds very interesting. Wait a minute, what chakra type is Gai?"

"I'm the raw physical strength component of the jutsu. We need physical manpower for a defensive barrier while the elemental types use their chakra in the very beginning. It gives the enemy no time to interfere while we charge up. Technically I've used four of the five elements in my jutsu. I can never get that wind type right. I suppose you could say I have no strong affinity for any of them. However, I can add my chakra to the jutsu if you guys need a special kick."

"Well I'm happy to be a part of it." The girl smiled, happy to finally be included in a group. It certainly beat the infinite solitude she had subjected herself to in the past, wondering of her identity and family. In time, the two plotters pulled each other aside once more.

"Let's give them time alone." Gai gave the thumbs up and Anko nodded.

"I'll hint to the others."

The six of them continued talking and joking around until there again, Maia noticed Anko scrutinizing her a little. Then she started making glances around again. Kurenai gave an understanding yet dark expression. Asuma's was thoughtful and slightly reluctant.

"Hey guys, it was a blast catching up with you all again but I have to go meet with the Hokage about a mission," Asuma got up excusing himself.

"I'll go with you," Kurenai got up and followed leaving the three of them left.

"Well then in that case, I had better get going too. I have to go watch Lee practice his shurriken attack Mighty Leaf Dash. The youthfulness of that boy is unparalleled with any other. I'm very proud of him." Maia waved and he got up to leave.

Now it was only her and Kakashi. He had been hiding in his novel most of the time, contributing to the conversation only a little. While they had all been talking, he had been reading his book, then looking at her from across the way. Now he put his book down and concentrated on the woman in front of him. _What things does is he like reading? I wonder what that book is about. _Maia tried to conceal the fastness of her heartbeat and the shortness of her breath.

* * *

"Well now it looks like it's just you and me." His voice was neutral, yet when he said 'you and me' he seemed to give the words extra life. _Calm down, it's the man I've had the entire week with. _She comforted herself. _What was it that he wanted to tell me? Is that why he never left me? _ _Oh man, how could Anko make everyone ditch me like that? Now what will I do?"_ She thought to herself. His eyes lazily pressed into hers, measuring up every feature.

"Yeah, it looks like it."

"Were there any places you had to go off to?"

"No not that I can think of. I was free for the day. What about you?"

"Well I had been planning to meet with the Hokage but I'm waiting on somebody. In which case I'll most likely head home." The girl nodded, and it was followed by a long pause. It seemed once again like he was thinking of her. Finally he let her into his thoughts. "There was something I wanted to ask you."

"Oh, what is that?" It must have been the thing Anko had warned her of.

"I was wondering if I could take you out this evening. It wouldn't be too uptight, but theres this little place I wanted to visit and I wanted to have you with me. It might be a good idea if we got to know each other more." Inwardly her jaw dropped as her heart skipped three beats.

"I'd love to go with you." The young woman gave a warm smile which he returned, satisfied.

"Great. I'll pick you up at your house at 7." With that, he made a hand sign and vanished into a cloud of smoke. Maia was left in the field.

_I had better go home and get ready. He'll pick me up in a few hours. I hope everything works out well._

* * *

**Well it's first date time! Let's see what happens :)**


	18. First Date with Kakashi Hatake

First, before I get on with the chapter, I need to have a quick little fan fiction rant. I was enjoying my merry old self, keeping up with the most recent naruto manga chapters, and then I noticed: _Kishimoto drew my OC in the manga!_ I was freaking out because though I've noticed for a long time we've thought on the same wavelength, I never ever expected him to literally invent my character, _every facial feature and almost every strand of hair exactly as imagined._ I have no idea what to think anymore, but if you message me, I'll show you the page (there aren't any spoilers) and you can see what she looks like in the war. It's interesting to see how the two of us have been thinking on the same wavelength but I'm probably the only one who cares. I won't keep you from the chapter anymore- I just needed to get that off my chest. Well on with the story!

7:00 in the evening

*knock, knock, knock *

It was him. Maia was a tied up bundle of nerves. Kakashi was here, and exactly on time. The girl scrambled to the mirror once more to make sure everything was in order, marveling at the fact he hadn't come late. She had expected him to come at least fifteen minutes behind schedule, yet it seemed he had given more thought to this event than the lessons with his team. Hurrying to open the door, she found him standing there with the same easygoing expression as always. She had exchanged her normal fighting attire for a different dress.

"Hi there," he gave her a sweet smile.

"He- hey- hi how are you?" she stuttered at how hot he looked and returned the gesture.

"I'm well. You look lovely." The girl hid the flush in her cheeks.

"Thank you."

"Are we ready to go?" with a nod, she locked the door behind her and walked to his side. Walking down the road, the girl clasped her hands behind her back, looking to the elusive jounin out the corner of her eye. His skin brushed against hers. Where would he lead her, and what would happen this evening?

"Where is it you wanted to take me?"

"I remembered you told me it still felt like you hadn't been fully belonging and integrated into the village yet. I thought it would be a good idea if I showed you the annual Konoha festival. It's a little event, but it might help you feel more at home." That was exciting, and she thought it kind of him to want to make her feel more welcome here.

"That would be lovely. What sorts of things do they have there?" He shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there."

They arrived at a blocked off section of streets and at once the sound of the hustle and bustle of people permeated the air. Laughter and music could be heard and the aroma of food baking floated to her nose.

"Here we are," he lifted the makeshift hanging cloth doors, letting her pass through underneath his arm. The girl gasped. There were little shops here that she had never known existed as well as displays of arts and crafts.

"This is wonderful…" Maia was elated and Kakashi was relieved. The other girls he had ever been with had been quite high maintenance- never satisfied. He was thankful he was with a girl who could be happy with something so simple. They walked from display to display, examining what offerings the people of Konoha had made to share their common culture. Nearby, a man and a woman had been kissing, and when Maia noticed, the thought of the man behind her made her flush. He had been watching her intently, to gage her reaction. _Even in her young adulthood, she still looks so innocent… I have to be gentle with her. _He pushed the thought out of his head to try the same thing with her the couple had been doing. To escape his gaze, Maia examined a table of woven, dyed fabrics used for everything from wearing to fighting with; then a table of miniature reed pipes. Kakashi examined the engravings on a uniquely carved knife set. He watched made sure to keep Maia close to him, enjoying her smile, which graced the children who passed by. It felt nice to have him lingering so close; he was always a half step behind, like he was being protective of her.

Eventually, while they walked through the cheerful streets, a smiling elderly woman waved them over.

"Hello there, would you like to come inside, dear? Today is the opening of the first trinket shop; knick-knacks collected from all over the five great nations, with names I'm sure you never even heard of! The girl looked up to Kakashi for permission and he nodded.

"I guess we have nothing better to do."

"We'd love to visit, thank you very much!" The woman smiled and led them in.

Inside, there were chaotic rows of shelves upon shelves of trinkets that indeed, they had no name for. They often looked ancient, even otherworldly.

"Not too organized…" the copy ninja mumbled out of earshot of the old woman. Maia however, was unaffected by the evident clutter, thinking the chaos was excellent. She walked to a nearby shelf, examining the items.

"How old are you, dear?" They old lady asked her. The girl hesitated, then replied meekly.

"Oh well see, I have no idea. I have amnesia. The Hokage said I could be 18 to 21." Behind her, Kakashi's eyes widened a little in relief. It had been the autumn when the Hokage had entrusted him with teaching her for the time being. The medical tests indicated there had still been a small chance she was 17, though he considered her normal behavior quite mature.

"Oh I see then. You have such a young face." The girl grinned.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I feel 21 or 20."

She turned to look at a golden figure on a shelf in front of her. The figure was an imperfect orb, etched with unrecognizable symbols and embedded with tiny little sequins. It made no sense but the look fascinated her. There were more trinkets like it. One was a green painted ball on three little chains, one on each axis. The ball had an eyeball carved into it on one side and an open hand on the other. This was, she decided, her favorite shop. When she inquired about the origin of many items, the woman indicated the information was top secret and well hidden. Hatake moved to reach for an old looking novel on the shelf above her, and when he did, his warm jacket brushed against her, leaving her to wish he had moved a little slower, to maintain the physical contact. _What would it feel like if his lips were on mine, like that couple? No Maia, calm down. _However, he quickly opted against purchasing it, loyal to his all time favorite. Maia showed Kakashi one of the figures as well, he responded with reserved interest.

"How curious," he said.

Further into the shop near the back wall there stood one last display by the counter. It was little jeweled bracelets and the young woman spotted one she particularly fell in love with. It was a simple thing made from aquamarine crystals and silver wire. It matched her ninja outfit and it was her favorite.

"I love this." The girl breathed out loud to whoever would listen. It was too much for what money she had with her and in her budget, nor was it anything she needed to fight, so she opted not to get it. Leaving Kakashi with a second novel, she went back around the store on the other side, examining the unique and traded clothing until they back out by the front.

"Would you like to keep looking or are you ready to leave?" Maia turned to Kakashi and asked.

"I'm ready." She thanked the old woman by the entrance for inviting them inside and they went on their way.

When they left the shop they were greeted with the music of a group of guitars. Looking to see where it came from, they discovered a gathering of people of all ages at the end of the festival near a park. Music! The band was playing a familiar song; a melody often sung in Konoha, that through her time in the village, she had grown to love. Kakashi noticed her eyes had brightened in excitement.

"Would you like to go over there for a little while?"

"Yes please," he took her over towards the group of villagers to find a little stage where the five musicians were talking with their audience. They had halted their music to sing the tune with the villagers. The young woman, of course, happily joined in. He watched her as she quietly began to sing, nervous of what he might think, then growing in volume with a gain in confidence. _The rumors are true then, Maia has a nice voice. It's warm and light. _He hummed along to himself, leaving her thinking that perhaps he would make a good tenor. The music group moved into a second rendition, more upbeat. The villagers began to dance.

"Let's join in!" the girl chuckled and grabbed his hand.

"I'm not—I think I'll just stand and watch."

"Oh, you're no fun!" she teased, breaking off of him and beginning to twirl by herself. He watched her with her arms lifted as she spun in circles, trained movement from her fighting experience.

Kakashi POV: I watched her as she moved with that smile on her face; her long hair waved around her and her dress swirled exposing more of her figure. I felt like I had many times today alone, the strong urge to hold her in my arms. To tell her that even if she had no family, no identity, I would make sure everything would be okay.

The music mellowed down to a steady, quiet pace. I watched as the villagers grouped together and paired off, leaving her standing alone, with her back to me. Normally at times like these, (though I almost never found myself in places like these) this would be my cue to leave, not wanting to get a girl's hope up. This time though, there she was. That's when another man walked up to her and took her hand. I watched as she looked back to me, but nodded her head politely. He wrapped her hands around her waist and though she tried to pull back a little, ended up giving in. I felt a tug at the pit of my stomach while I watched the man grin, her innocent smile showing only for him. I tried to hide it from myself, but there was a part deep inside the man of me that wanted to give off a growl. That's when I lost it. I walked up to her, who turned to find me.

"May I have this dance?" The girls eyes lit up. She turned to thank the other man, then I took her hand and invited her into my arms. End Kakashi POV:

My arms around her waist, hers loosely wrapped around my neck, I looked into her eyes. Her face showed many things; hope for the future, kindness towards her world, happiness for life, loss of her family and past... love...mystery... the hidden truth in her eyes that transfixed me, the smile that both haunted me and made me feel warm. What hidden truth did she hold? I wanted to understand that. Her soft skin brushed against mine. I pulled her in closer.

Maia POV: The experience was hypnotic, like floating. The music had lulled and became hushed, intimate. Though nervous, with his arms wrapped around me I felt safe. We swayed to the beat, lost in each other. His eyes never left me, as if once again, he was looking for an answer. He pulled me in closer, making me tense up.

"It's a slow dance. Relax and let your body move you." His jounin vest was warm and I noticed he smelled nice. I wondered if he had put something on for our date or if I never noticed he smelled good before. He massaged the small of my back with his thumb. My cheeks flushed once more and because my arms were around his neck, I looked away, trying to use my hair to hide it what I had been thinking. He saw.

"There's no reason to hide it." I looked to him. I had no idea what to say. "I think it's cute when you blush."

Kakashi POV: Her eyes… what is she hiding inside them? I think it's safe to say she likes me now. What would happen if…

Then Maia noticed how they had gotten so close. His face neared hers even more. The girl's lips parted in a silent gasp. He was going to kiss her! Through half lidded eyes, she watched as he lowered his head; their mouths were inches apart. Then…

* * *

Hahahaha! Isn't that a cliffhanger if I ever heard one! I'm evil, I know. I'm making the final edits to the next chapter, then lemon. I'll post it very soon!


	19. The First Kiss

Recap: "It's a slow dance. Relax and let your body move you." His jounin vest was warm and I noticed he smelled nice. I wondered if he had put something on before the date or if I hadn't noticed he smelled good always. He massaged the small of my back with his thumb. My cheeks flushed once more at what I had just been thinking and because my arms were around his neck, I looked away, trying to use my hair to hide it. He saw.

"There's no reason to hide it." I looked to him. "I think it's cute when you blush." I had no idea what to say.

Kakashi POV: Her eyes… what is she hiding inside them? I think it's safe to say she likes me now. What would happen if…

Then Maia noticed how they had gotten so close. His face neared hers even more. The girl's lips parted in a silent gasp. He was going to kiss her! Through half lidded eyes, she watched as he lowered his head; their mouths were inches apart. Then…

* * *

"Hey there Kakashi! Who is that you have with you?" They both turned their heads to see none other than the one and only Might Gai, who had come by himself. "Oh, I see, hello there Maia!" _That thickheaded idiot_ Kakashi mumbled mentally.

"Hey," the girl waved, disappointed. Crap. He had interuped at such an opportune moment.

"What are you doing here, Guy?" his voice sounded disappointed as well.

"Anko told me about the festival so I thought I'd check it out. I enjoy embracing the power of youth in the form of dance." Maia took her hand off his shoulder and Gai seemed to notice what he had interrupted. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? I realize I sometimes come in at the wrong time." Kakashi scratched the back of his head and sighed, smoothly evading his friend's impression.

"No, no, it's fine." He turned to her, voice hushed to nearly a whisper. "Let me take you somewhere we can be alone. Would you like that?"

"Yes..." She nodded her head, blushing, and followed him out of the festival.

The two walked in silence for a minute.

"Where are you taking me?" Maia asked him.

Kakashi's POV: This is it. I'm going to tell her I like her.

"I'm taking you to the memorial stone." His voice hid a new hint of emotion inside it now, though it was obscured, too subtle to name. She nodded once more, heart fluttering.

Kakashi POV: I had no idea why the memorial stone was the location I had in mind; it just felt right, knowing who she resembles to me. I have to let her into my past.

They walked through town in their own thoughts, of what they could be together, of what could happen, even tonight. Maia's arm tensed when she noticed that now they were holding hands. When had that happened? They looked at each other and gave a quick smile, confirming the unspoken truth, not letting go. Her blush went unhid, she thought to herself how wanted to lean against his chest; she wanted so much more. Watching him out of the corner of her eye, the girl noticed his brows were furrowed, deep in thought.

* * *

When he brought her to the memorial stone thunder sounded in the distance. A thin layer of scattered rainclouds dimmed the sky. Nervously, the young woman watched as he went up to the large stone, letting the distance grow between them. Maia had never come to the memorial stone before; it was as if a little voice from her gut whispered in her ear never to come here; yet now standing here with him, that little force inside her was filled with emotion.

_How could she have ever known that the very face looked at him with now, was the face he had imagined countless times while standing here, mourning over the girl he chidori'd in the heart? The girl who's limp body fell from his impaling arm, lifeless onto the ground? How could he ever have known that the very girl who had caused him grief was literally inside the girl who made him feel the way he did now? The eyes she looked at him with were the very ones that had triggered the guilt of that memory many times, and yet now they made him feel more warm and alive than ever. He liked her for who she was of course, but those memories made her more to him. He needed to tell her how he felt, and this was how. _

"This is where the memories of my former comrades lie. I go to think of them and wish them well." Her voice softened respectfully; that mysterious force inside her gut filling with bittersweet happiness. The young woman never understood why that was her feeling, but she did understand the tragic death of his friends was a very delicate subject for him.

"I heard you come here every day."

"It's how I have time for them in my life. They deserved much better." His voice was strong, yet it grew quieter. The calmness in it masked that hidden emotion now distinctly heard. It was a make it or break it exchange of thoughts. Quietly, she walked forward closer to him and lowered her head to pay her respects.

"They were very lucky to have a devoted friend like you." Monitoring her own voice, she tactfully made sure her tone was gentle and understanding. He was very fragile when it came to this topic, as much as he might not have let others in to that fact.

"I'm more of a friend to them in death than I was in life. I was heartless and self-righteous. It was me who let them down." This time, it felt to her as if there was an extra force behind her words. The force inside her gut took root in her throat, unwavering.

"You're too self-critical," the voice was caring. " No one is perfect. You're a wonderful ninja who puts their life on the line to defend your teammates and the village." He turned away for a moment. With courage, she moved in closer until she was next to him. "It's horrible to hold that feeling inside yourself." The extra force left her.

"It's why I work to protect every team member and every fellow ninja." The resolve in his voice was there now, with the new emotion too. "My life taught me the meaning of loss. It taught me how much every man has to lose. If I can help it, I won't stand to see my teammates die." Maia thought for a moment. Butterflies in her stomach, her mind went to the time he had put his life on the line for her, the thoughts of how it would feel if he had taken her in his arms... held his face closer to hers until... It was time to ask the question that had been nagging at her mind.

"Is that why you chose to protect me on that day? The day you invited me on our first mission?"

"I protected the way I did because I felt… you were like the ones I lost back then. I could never live to watch you fall…"

"I couldn't lose you."

For half a second, her heart stopped beating. It was too much to handle much longer.

"I think I've lost my words to say."

"Then we don't have to talk at all." Once more, he moved in closer to her. Her figure looked so appealing, he thought to himself how it would feel to have her wrapped up in his arms.

"Kakashi I-"

"Maia….." He whispered into her ear, his hot breath tingling her neck. He gently placed his hand on her cheek, looking in her eyes. He thought of what would happen if he went through with it. When it felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest, he came to his senses.

In a flash his lips finally locked with hers. Warmth pressed into her from behind his mask. He wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her in much closer. For a moment, the girl went unresponsive- His gentle lips made her entire body tingle. When she came back to her senses she returned his gestures. The entire time, every sign he had given on every mission had been true. They had wanted each other, and now he was in her arms. She tilted her head up to meet him as his lips moved over hers, wrapping her arms once more around his neck and head while he leaned down onto her. "Mmmmh..." Their kisses increased in strength until they both needed to breathe. Without thinking, her mouth tried confessing the true extent of her feeling.

"I lo—" He interrupted her with his lips once more. His hands had brought her in close enough that her entire upper half pressed against his. He felt like heaven. While one hand held her firmly to his body, the other explored up and down her side, sending tingling waves up her spine.

Kakashi POV:I finally had her. Many other women had offered themselves to me, yet none of them were 'it'. Every one had the flaws I knew I would never get by. Then why her? It wasn't that she was perfect, she certainly wasn't. Many might not have wanted her the way I wanted her. It wasn't simply that her presence made me feel more alive on the inside than I had felt before, nor was it her likeness to my teammate. It was that she fit me for who I was. Everything was in place. Was there something else? There was that extra thing inside her, what was it? Whatever the case I wanted to spend a lot of time figuring it out. End Kakashi POV

When her lips parted once more, his hands had found hers. She felt something cold and metallic in one of them. Looking down she opened up her palm and let out a gasp. It was the aquamarine bracelet from inside the shop. "What? My goodness… I mean thank you… how did you get it?" He smirked.

"I bought it when you went behind the clothing aisle. It looked perfect on you." The girl looked down at her gift once more- he never had to do that. He went in for more kisses.

That was it. This was too sweet. Now for sure her entire body yearned for him. Without thinking a moment further the woman wrapped her arms around his neck, passionately merging her lips with his once more, wrapping her legs around his waist. He had to hold onto her legs tight if she wasn't going to slip. His eyes widened when he had to compensate for the weight change, though he continued kissing her fiercely, harder and harder. The thunder rumbled in the distance louder than before and then it began to sprinkle. The little water droplets quickly turned into rain. Lightning crackled. They made out while their two elements merged in harmony. However, in time he caught a shiver running down her back. She looked up at the clouds.

"It's getting louder and closer to us."

"Maybe we should get you some place warm." He gently moved his hand over her lower back, making her moan.

"Did that feel good?" The girl innocently nodded her head. "I can make you feel even better." He whispered in her ear, hinting with his eyes. "Want to head to my place?" Maia blushed once more, nodding.

"I... trust.. you." He took her hand in his.

"Good. Now hold on tight," he warned, then making the hand sign them both disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

* * *

If you haven't guessed yet the next chapter is a lemon! If you would like to skip over it that's fine it won't ruin the plot, it's just extra for those of you who do. In any case, it's official, they are together! Kakashi: ^_^ yay (I'm probably going to keep on editing this last chapter later.)

Next Chapter: LEMON: When Lightning and Water Collide


	20. LEMON Water and Lighting Merge

Warning! This lemon is not for people under fifteen! If you read it and you're under that, it's on you, I just made it extra juicy, and I feel like it should be rated MM. I have no idea how I managed to even write this, or how I'm letting myself post it on the internet, but I guess it's for my readers! Love you guys. :) Honestly though, if you're under 15, it's on you.

Also, I wrote this two ways. I figured most readers would expect me to write her as a virgin, but going by her character, I'm not sure that's the case. So if you want you can read the excerpt where she is to keep it traditional, or you can read my not as common version. Or both, your pick.

Final disclaimer: Maia is an OC I made as a literary tool, not to be an extension of myself and how I wish I was if I was in the narutoverse. I'm not linking myself with what she's about to do. :)

* * *

His house was dim in the late evening but they never bothered turning on the lights. The two of them landed in the same position as before with her straddling his waist, lips locked fiercely. He took her over to his desk, sitting in the chair with her placed in his lap, where they proceeded to make out. The girl had cupped his face in her small hands, latching onto him with her legs.

"Mmm… Maia.." The girl never replied; it was her mission was now give in to the way he made her feel; to find the place on his upper half that made him moan the most. He was more experienced than her evidently; he made her melt with every touch. He let his hands roam up and down her thighs and hips, up towards her chest as her hands explored his shaggy silver hair. They gently pulled at the edges of his mask, imploring him to take it off but he took them off firmly, without even a change in expression. Disappointed that he wouldn't let her look yet, she unzipped his green jounin jacket; throwing with a dull thud it to the ground.

Her hands moved over his chest. He sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying her teasing fingers. When they reached his lower stomach, she felt him tense up and shiver. It had only been two minutes and the woman had found his weak spot. _That intuitive little lady_, he thought to himself. He unzipped the upper back of her dress, trailing his fingers down her spine. Maia let out a moan and her entire body leaned back at the contact, her hips involuntarily bucking against him. He buried his face in her neck, letting hot breath escape from his lips to her skin, licking at the sensitive spot from underneath the fabric concealing his face.

Maia hesitated when she felt him harden underneath her.

"Maia, you have no idea what you're doing to me…" he moaned, gauging her reaction. When she continued kissing him, he thrust his hips upward; a little yelp escaped her lips. He thrust up once more, holding her hips down, while she grinded against him.

_This will work much better if I'm on top of her." _He had taken the time to let her ease into this type of contact; it might have taken all his self restraint to stop himself from taking her over and screwing her senseless from the start- he might have thought of her much too much already, but he wanted to make her feel taken care of before rushing in. The girl had occasionally been sneaking looks towards the bed through half lidded eyes idea of what he could do with her was too tempting an idea to ignore. She found herself laid comfortably on his neatly made mattress, which he undid the covers to with one fell swoop of his arm.

They took a moment to look at each other, him hovering over her, her laying sprawled out innocently underneath him. It was a treasured sight to the man, and though he maintained his cool demeanor, inside his body was more excited than it should have been. Heart racing in her chest, Maia felt a new pressure build up inside her and realized her hands were trembling.

"Kakashi I…." He took one last moment to enjoy the sight of her innocence, her hands up over her head on his pillow, looking into his eyes ever trustingly. He stopped her words once more with his lips, the evident tent in his pants hovering over her entrance.

Maia let him unzip the back of her dress until it fell off leaving the bottom as a skirt and exposing her wrappings. His fingers skillfully clawed and tore at those for a moment, trying to get to their target. Finally, he exposed two soft breasts, though in the dim light. His hands eagerly massaged the two mounds, then two concealed lips gently tugged at her sensitive nipples which she had felt harden. He was too good to her. He buried his face in the girl's warm chest and fondled her. Maia involuntarily leaned backwards with a long sigh. This was heaven. Even through his mask, he was so good. She kissed his head, ruffled his shaggy silver hair, rubbed her hands along his shoulders, wanting to touch everything she could reach on him.

He was so hard for her, and needed him more than anything she had ever felt in her life. His hands explored her body feverishly, as if he had thought of nothing else but her and this night the entire week. He went back up to her neck and kissed her there, then moved up to her lips. The jounin had a cool maturity about him that made her feel very comfortable and safe. The girl looked into his blue grey eyes, which transfixed her. When she looked into them, she felt in love and at home. Not only that, she wanted him now more than ever.

"How much do you trust me?" His voice was getting jagged.

"I trust you," she answered hesitantly. He gave one last long passionate kiss before his fingers tore off the rest of her dress exposing her mostly naked form. It felt unusual to be almost completely unclothed while he had everything on. The girl pulled weakly at his shirt, which he took off for her, revealing his perfectly lean and nicely sculpted muscles. She couldn't wait to feel his skin against hers.

"I want you…" He growled through his teeth in a soft groggy intense voice. Maia could feel his hot breath on her face.

"I'm yours," she nodded and confessed through half lidded eyes in awe of his perfect form, gasping against him. He kissed her and positioned himself over the sensitive area under her legs, holding her tight. Maia was nervous but his experienced movements told her it would be alright. He roamed her body. Her hands went to his waistband until he tugged his pants off. He kicked the last parts off himself. Then with one hand propping him up over her, the other went straight to her panties where his fingers gently caressed her tender spots. Instantly the quite pleasurable sensation took hold of her, filling her with a tingling eagerness for his touch. With a small moan her legs fidgeted restlessly. He observed her with cool, detached eyes.

"Kakashi m-move it more." Her voice quivered as she could feel herself getting wet. He granted her request and took two fingers and lifted up the hem of her panties, touching soft skin. They found her entrance, and the electrifying sensation made her gasp, wiggling the tender bundle of nerves and then stroking all the way up and down. Maia's hips jolted, but he held the girl firmly in her place. He continued rubbing her entrance up and down making her moan.

* * *

Untraditional Lemon: (if you want her to be a definite virgin, skip to the traditional version below)

Maia closed her eyes tight, savoring his almost unbearable touches, wishing it would go on forever, until suddenly he stopped. She looked at him curiously.

"Why d-did you stop?"

"Looks like you aren't as innocent as you look."

"What?" Her evident confusion made him curious. His eyebrows furrowed.

"Have you ever done this with another man?"

"No of course not… this is my first time… that I can remember." His fingers resumed touching her.

"You don't have something most first timers do."

"I don't? What is it?"

"It's called a hymen."

"What is that?" He chucked at her evident innocent curiosity. It made sense that they never would have told a girl her age this little detail at the ninja academy when they thought she was likely an adult.

"I need to take these off now if you want me to tell you." His voice was light and teasing. He snuck his fingers under the hips of her underwear. The girl blushed and nodded. With one smooth motion, he eased her panties off, exposing her full nakedness.

"It's a little flap of skin that covers here…" he touched her where it normally was eliciting a moan "or sometimes a little over here" he circled the area resulting in the same response. He mentally noted how this was the ideal way to teach her a lesson in sex. "You don't have one." The girl looked down for a minute.

"Oh… well in that case does this mean… I'm not a virgin?"

"It well might. Girls occasionally break them while stretching or while fighting an enemy. It could be though, that you had a previous lover." His voice rose in interest at the last part. Maia fidgeted; he was so experienced, now he knew exactly where to touch her.

"I wonder…." Her heart sank a little. She had lost so much in the past, first a family and friends and now a love. Or perhaps not. She wondered how she had lost it. He was still touching her, making her tremble, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Well, if you can't remember how you lost it, in a way your first time… is me!" The girls eyes teared up a little. That was what she had wanted. Her memory might have been lost, but he was going to help her to make new ones. She laughed.

"Well then, thank you for the little lesson."

[now skip the next little excerpt for where the story continues!]

* * *

Traditional Lemon * if you wanted her to be a true virgin *

He touched her until her core ached in yearning, and she couldn't help but to buck her hips in tingling anticipation. He held her legs firmly to the bed, wordlessly exploring her. The girl was so wet and her movements were uncontrolled. Nothing had ever felt like this.

"I can't- take it-"

"Maia, take deep breaths. It looks like you're extremely sensitive. I'll make you feel even better if you let me but you have to keep a little more still." Maia grimaced and followed his lead. Nervously, she let him take off her panties. He continued teasing her in a way that felt almost unbearable.

"I've never done this before; I've never even had a boyfriend." He continued touching her making her body tremble, but now her movements eased into a rhythm with his hands.

"That's just fine, I'll make sure to make it feel good." Maia blushed. His maturity was good for her.

"Thank you for the lesson."

[end traditional lemon, continue with main lemon]

* * *

"I'm not your sensei anymore, but I can still teach you a lesson or two."

"If you're teaching me things like that, does mean you're my..." He went up to her ear and whispered the words she had been thinking.

"Sex sensei?" The girl blushed as his fingers persuasively moved over her once more. Once more he whispered seductively in her ear. "Let's see how good a 'student' you are." His fingers were making her flush and moan; it was unbearable.

"I like being your 'student'." He chuckled.

"Well that gives me a good excuse to keep kissing you."

She was so wet now. He slipped one finger into her. He pumped in a few times, watching her blushing face grimace in pleasure while she bucked her hips, letting the wetness slide down his finger. He teased like that making her want more. Then he inserted a second finger making her mouth open wide in extreme pleasure. He was so good.

"Mmm Kakashi!" The moans escaping her mouth made him even harder as the tension boiled inside him. Then finally he came down again to her lips. His hard length pressed against her. Maia felt how wet he had made her. Oh how she needed him. He fondled each breast, enjoying her nakedness against him. However, he could still feel her hands were now balled into fists. Her trembling hands massaged his chest, and with his face buried in her hair and neck, he could wait no longer. He thrust against her and then began to take off his last item of clothing.

"Have you ever seen a grown man's penis?" She shook her head nervously while he threw his underwear to the side.

"Not other than in a few movies no." It was off and she looked down to his hard member. It was weird seeing something she had never seen on a man before so close to her, though her yearning for him made the aching pressure inside her increase. He was big but not too huge. "Will you even fit inside me?" She asked, genuinely wondering. Her core was tingling with hot fire. His eyes went into half circles.

"I'm sure it will work fine," He chuckled and continued rubbing her clit.

"Take me…" The girl felt like she was going to explode from need. It was almost too much to bear. She thought to herself that for sure, if he were to take her, she would fall half unconscious under the magic shared between their sweating bodies.

"Not yet. We still have one last thing we're forgetting."

"What is it?"

"My mask." He gave that last word extra life. Eyes widened in wonder, her heart leapt that he was giving her the honor to find what was underneath. Maia looked up to him leaning over you.

What was under that navy cloth? What was his face like? Was it something he considered a flaw? Did he have blimp lips or buck teeth or maybe a strange scar? Or was it like the rumors she had heard? Was he unthinkably good looking? He could be protecting himself from other women. It could just be out of privacy. Filled with a sense of luckiness then to have the opportunity, her hand reached up to pull off the fabric the thoughts of thousands of ninja (and millions of fangirls haha) escaped into her consciousness. Two fingers found their way into the folds of the fabric. Heart thumping, they pulled the three pieces of fabric off.

The light was dim though she could make out his features. He watched her eyes widen completely and her mouth slowly fall like a codfish. It left her speechless.

"Hi there. ^_^"

There was no use resisting. He was gorgeous. His face was unmarred by any marks other than what was on his closed eye. He let her touch his cheek, which was soft to the touch. His lips were exactly how she imagined, and now she wanted nothing more than to have them on hers. Feeling magnetized to him, together their lips united with his lovingly, passionately. His lips felt like heaven against hers. They were warm and soft and his. Maia wanted to show her affection, even though she had never tried this before, wanted to try now. A hand wrapped around his hard length and tugged on it once. He instantly responded thrusting his hips in reflex.

"Not now, Maia. It's hard to resist, but tonight I made for you." He helped her lay down underneath him, wrapping his arms around her frame and leaned in, pushing her down to the mattress. Her core tightened, overwhelmed with want and need. He licked each nipple; her mouth opened in a silent gasp at the warmth. He liked the sensitive spot on her neck and then kissed your forehead. His hips were positioned at an angle where with one thrust he would be inside her. The girl looked up into his eyes timidly. His face now visible, she felt truly comfortable with him. He was completely trustworthy in his genuine smile.

"Now take me." The order came out pleadingly, like hot breathy air. "Please—I need you inside of me!" He couldn't wait any longer. He instantly responded, entering into her. Wincing, her mouth opened wide in a silent moan. He gave her time to get used to the feeling and adjust to his size. Her nails clawed into his back. Then he thrust into her once, twice, three times gently. Maia moaned.

"Is it good?" She nodded.

"Oh god, is it good." He went a little further in, getting a little faster, listening to the moans which escaped her mouth. It felt like nothing she had ever felt in her life. Even if she had had a lover before, nothing had ever felt like this. She tightened her lips so she wouldn't gasp out too loudly, until he kissed her, making her moan more. The hot tingling filled her when he filled her, the feeling almost unbearable yet too irresistable. Maia wanted to wrap herself up in him, so filled with love. The rain continued pitter pattering against his window while he took her. He continued into a normal pace. The way his thrusts moved in harmony with the movements and needs of her body was miraculous and indescribable. He was perfection. It was as if he understood when to thrust in deeper or move out shallowly, when to hit certain spots or caress different parts of her body. Each detail was in place. They made love wriggling together, intertwined that way for a timeless moment, getting harder. In time, it was too much to handle.

"Kakashi I think I'm going to… I'm going to-" He continued thrusting into her, faster this time, until she was sent over the edge in a wave of utter esctacy. He moved inside her still, angling her legs in a new way.

"I love it when you moan to me like that," He went a little faster, her high moans matching his rhythm. It was too good. He was too good. He overwhelmed her once more; he sent waves of pleasure through her. He marveled at how truly well matched they were together. Then he shifted her to the first position, nearing his own end. Maia had to hold him tight while he started moving faster and deeper into her. It was exhausting and hurt in a good way.

"Harder, harder!" He was coming to his climax in no time. A third orgasm washed over her just before he reached his limit. When he hit it, he finished off on her tummy. He collapsed onto her sweaty and heaving, toppling her onto the bed on her back again.

"Maia… that was…" The man heaved; Maia could feel their heartbeats pounding, and noticed her own heart had opened even more to the man, after he had taken her. The girl lovingly held him in her arms, noticing they were both covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"I'm happy you're happy."

"I felt you climax two or three times on me," Maia laughed at that.

"I'm happy to have a man like you." In time he rolled onto his side where he wrapped his arm around her, falling asleep. She watched his inhales and exhales calmly, his breaths mixed with the rain and thunder, lulling her hypnotically into a calm peaceful rest against his side. _I love you, Kakashi. _She thought to herself, though the words would have to wait. The rise and fall of their exhausted breathing matched in pace, and she gave herself over to sleep holding him.

* * *

Lol, for the record, I'm a virgin, (i'm not even caring that I just told the internet that) I've never done any of that. I'm not even a huge fangirl of his anymore. I guess that might be the reason why this chapter took a little longer to come out. That's the end of my first lemon! I cannot believe I wrote that. I told you it wasn't for people younger than fiveteen! Well anyways now the two of them are an item and in the morning they'll have to go about telling the ninja in your village that the two of them are together. That will get some reactions, wanted or unwanted. If someone could review this chapter too, I'd like to maybe edit it a little more later. I know I might have written a little too far for some readers comfort zones, and if they want to message me, I can tone it down. Again, it was fair warning, it was MM. On the other hand, if people want me to keep it this way, or have any other tips, I'd love to here them!

Whatever the case, I hope you liked it! There's more of that where that came from, in nearby chapters. I'll be writing at least 4 more kakashi lemons, and a few mini ones.


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